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Author
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Topic: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator
Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted April 22, 2010 01:23 PM
Excellent Ken Films cutdown of Howard Hawks’ 1953 musical.
Digests of musicals generally fall into two categories. Forget the plot and feature the songs, or try for a synopsis and include sections of the musical numbers. This Ken Films digest (released in June 1975) is of the latter type, choosing (wisely, in my opinion) to concentrate on the Lorelei plot line while featuring four songs, two of them complete.
We start off with showgirls Dorothy (Jane Russell) and Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) singing “Little Girl from Little Rock”. Title credits follow. Backstage, Lorelei tells Dorothy that she thinks her boyfriend Gus Esmond will propose tonight. Gus (Tommy Noonan) does, saying they’ll cruise to Paris and get married there. He’s called away to take a phone call from his wealthy father, prompting Dorothy to remark how Mr. Esmond Sr. will never let his son marry Lorelei.
Cut to the stateroom on the cruise ship, where Gus tells her they’ll meet in Paris. Lorelei sings “Bye Bye Baby” (a short snippet). The two women continue on to France.
The digest cuts straight to Paris, bypassing all the antics on the ship with Malone (a private eye hired by Gus’ father), diamond mine owner Sir “Piggy” Beekman and a tiara belonging to Lady Beekman.. Although these are major plot points in the feature, they aren’t needed to enjoy the cutdown.
After a montage of Paris (and a shopping spree), the showgirls arrive at their hotel only to learn from Malone that their reservation and letter of credit have been cancelled. In low spirits at a café, they sing “When Love Goes Wrong (Nothing Goes Right)”. This attracts a crowd and we next see them headlining at a nightclub. With both Esmond Sr. and Jr. in the audience, Lorelei sings “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend” (entire number).
Later that evening, Lorelei stands up to Esmond Sr.
Esmond Sr.: Have you got the nerve to tell me you don't want to marry my son for his money?
Lorelei: It’s true.
Esmond Sr.: Then what do you want to marry him for?
Lorelei: I want to marry him for YOUR money…. Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?
Esmond Sr.: Say, they told me you were stupid! You certainly don't seem stupid to me!
Lorelei: I can be smart when I need to be.
Dad gives his blessing and we cut to a double wedding. Dorothy is marrying Malone, who appeared briefly in the hotel scene. The two leads reprise “Little Girl from Little Rock” as they walk down the aisle. Dissolve to the original “The End” title.
Although Jane Russell gets shortchanged in the edit, there’s only so much material that can be included in a 400 footer and this is a very satisfying condensed version of the feature.
My print has slight fade, but still has strong colors. The “Diamond” number looks terrific. Audio and contrast are both fine. Ken does something here it should have done more often. When “The End” title fades out, the music is allowed to continue for a few seconds till the score is finished. No abrupt music cuts here!
Doug
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I think there's room for just one more film.....
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James N. Savage 3
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1375
From: Washington, DC
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted April 22, 2010 02:07 PM
A very excellent review Douglas! With great screen shots as well.
I believe this was in Ken Film's second round of 400 foot color/sound digests. In the first round, which included "The Posiedon Adventure", there were more abrupt cuts and some choppy sound editing. It seems that Ken editors improved a little more with each batch of digests. By the time "Alien" and "Empire Strikes Back" digests were released, they had pretty much mastered the craft.
While this appears to be a good print, I believe Derann released the Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend 200 foot segment a few years back, and the print is beautiful, and low fade, of course. If I get a chance to borrow this print again, I'll post some shots.
James.
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 22, 2010 09:00 AM
Thanks for that great review Doug.
This was one of the first digests that I purchased when I started super 8mm film collecting back in the 70's, and I was delighted with it then- and I still am. The film really captures Marilyn's goofy charm and sex appeal, and the Diamonds number is a knockout. I think this was a great editing job by Ken Films, definately one of their best. The scene described in detail by Doug (above) never fails to make my wife laugh out loud!
I also have the Derann 200ft reel of the Diamonds number , and the quality is really superb, razor sharp with deep rich color saturation, and on low fade stock. Might not be a bad idea to substitute it into the 400ft digest, although maybe the difference in film print quality would be too noticeable.
Come to think of it, I need to get this film on DVD- I have never seen the complete feature!
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
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Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 02, 2014 01:08 PM
I just received a digest of this that I thoroughly pleased with, (though I rarely bother with digests), and I thought I'd do a "digest" review of it, (anybody who knows my reviews will understand that!)
This begins with the Fox logo (naturally) and immediately goes into the beginning song, "Two Girls From Little Rock" a rollicking, fun number. The digest itself does a fairly nice job of telling the story. Marilyn wants to marry her egg headed boyfriend, (he's rich, though), he's putting it off. He makes a trip to France avaialable with a line of credit for her. Marilyn and her best friend, (the lovely Jane Russell) go over to France, only to find that they're line of credit has been cancelled and they are left high and dry in France.
With no cash, they decide to do what they do best, get back on the stage for live shows. The Boyfriend comes to France and finds out quite by accident that Marilyn is on the stage. They get back together and Marilyn manages to convince the young lads father that she has as much right to go for a rich husband, as a rich fellow has the right to go after the best looking lady out there. The digest ends with both Marilyn and Russell, walking down the aisle to get married, as they are both getting married, (Russell's subplot of getting a boyfriend is left out entire).
This digest has the smart idea to mainly focus on the music and the highlight of this 400ft 16 minute digest is the full song "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", Marilyn's famous song from the hit film.
The print ...
COLOR
The color is outstanding on this print I have. I get the feeling that this was printed on early generation LPP film stock, but not labeled as such, as the color hasn't faded a bit after all these year. Perfects blacks and spot on colors.
IMAGE
Very little grain problem to this print. It's taken from a good negative in that regard. it doesn't have a dupey looking quality to it ...
HOWEVER ...
The negative that this was struck from shows numerous points of wear, it the white speckling on the right hand side that comes and goes throughout the print. A little annoying, but what can you do about it?
Another curious thing about the image, there are some spots where, apparently, film was spiled in from non Technicolor sources, and you'll have perfect color, (as in the café scene) and then the very next shot looks VERY faded, very reddish, the next shot after that? Right back to Technicolor. Fortunately, "Diamonds" doesn't suffer from that.
The so sound is a very passable mono, but I think I'll get a copy of the DVD and re-record the audio.
Long Live Super 8!!
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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