How To Marry A Millionaire ^NEW^
Resourceful Schatze Page, spunky Loco Dempsey, and ditzy Pola Debevoise are money-hungry gold diggers. The trio rent a luxurious Sutton Place penthouse in New York City from Freddie Denmark, who is avoiding the IRS by living in Europe. The women plan to use the apartment to attract rich men. And on the day they move in, Loco carries in groceries, assisted by Tom Brookman, who is attracted to Schatze. She dismisses him as being poor and sets her sights on the charming, classy, rich widower J.D. Hanley. While she is stalking the older J.D., Tom pursues her. After every date, she says she never wants to see Tom again, refusing to marry another "gas pump jockey".
How to Marry a Millionaire
Loco and Pola are reunited with Schatze just before her wedding to J.D.. Schatze is unable to go through with the marriage and confesses to J.D. that she loves Tom. He agrees to call off the ceremony. Tom is among the wedding guests and the two reconcile and marry. Afterwards, the three happy couples end up at a greasy spoon diner. Schatze jokingly asks Eben and Freddie about their financial prospects, which are slim. When she finally gets around to Tom, he casually admits a net worth of around $200 million, which no one takes seriously. He then calls for the check, pulls out an enormous wad of money, and pays with a $1,000 bill, telling the chef to keep the change. The three astonished women faint, and the men drink a toast to their unconscious wives.
In 2000, 20th Century Fox Television produced a made-for-TV remake, How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale. It reversed the sex roles, and had three men looking to marry wealthy females. It starred John Stamos, Joshua Malina and Shemar Moore.
The only objectionable content in How to Marry a Millionaire is the premise, which is that the best thing a woman can do with her life is marry into money. It's a good opportunity to start a discussion about when in the past that was true (if ever), how things have changed, and whether more change is still needed. It's also a good opportunity to talk about how smoking in movies has changed over the years, what kind of influence it may have had on audiences, and how and why attitudes about smoking have changed. Otherwise, two or three brief kisses are shown, and there's a fair amount of social drinking.
Three young women friends (Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable, and Marilyn Monroe) decide that their best chances to meet rich, eligible bachelors will come if they live where the wealthy live. So they scrape together every penny they have to pay first and last month's rent on a luxurious Manhattan apartment, which serves as their base of operations. But landing a millionaire doesn't happen overnight, and soon they're forced to sell off the apartment's furnishings to maintain their lifestyle. As the apartment empties and they're reduced to folding chairs and camping cots, they of course find themselves falling for guys without a penny to their names. Will their hearts be able to resist?
Although there's nothing kids shouldn't see, the movie's appeal will be fairly limited. Some extended shots showcasing the glory of CinemaScope probably thrilled audiences in its initial theater run, but today they seem intrusive and clunky. Also, the plot's about trying to find someone to marry, and the pacing is quiet and gentle. To go along for the ride, modern audiences need to set aside modern sensibilities about what a woman's best options are. If you (and your kids) can do that, you're in for a real treat.
Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall) Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable) and Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe) are three models on a mission: They all want to marry a millionaire. To accomplish this task, they move into a fancy New York City apartment and begin courting the city's elite. They have no problem meeting rich men, but unfortunately most of them turn out to be creeps or cons. Eventually they must decide: Is a life of luxury more important to them than finding true love?
This was the second to the last film Powell made before retiring from films in 1955. True to form, he plays the debonair millionaire with grace and ease, acknowledging through his character he is no longer the star he had been twenty years earlier. 041b061a72