Howard Hawks – ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’
Despite the ever-changing tides of cultural sensibilities, Gentleman Prefer Blondes has retained its status as a light-hearted classic, the perfect ‘blonde vs brunette’, ‘brains vs brawn’ flick. It follows Lorelei Lee (played by the luminous Marilyn Monroe) and Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell), two showgirls and best friends whose romantic tastes are as starkly different as their hair colours.
Lorelei favours the comforts of a wealthy man (“I always say a kiss on the hand might feel very good, but a diamond tiara lasts forever!”), like her stick-in-the-mud fiancé, Gus, whereas Dorothy prefers a good-looker with an honest heart. Lorelei is set to travel to France to marry Gus, but his father forbids him, wise to Lorelei’s ways. Instead, she and Dorothy embark on their own to wait for him, oblivious to the fact Gus’ father has hired a private detective to spy on Lorelei.
Their Atlantic crossing involves an all-male Olympic team, stolen tiaras and secret missions gone wrong. A charming, entertaining musical with flashes of self-aware humour ensues, like when Dorothy says: “Honey, did it ever occur to you that some people just don’t care about money?” – to which Lorelei retorts: “Please, we’re talking serious here.”
But what brings the 1953 technicolour classic to life is not the breathy air of Marilyn Monroe or the wry smile of her co-star Jane Russell in those moments – but the way Jack Cole frames them.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes began as a Broadway hit in 1949, and despite directing its big-screen adaptation, director Howard Hawks was largely uninterested in planning elaborate dance numbers. It was Cole who choreographed and directed all of them, having had experience dancing on Broadway himself.
Cole was a perfectionist, laboriously directing Monroe and Russell’s every on-screen move, nowhere more obviously than in the film’s stand-out rendition of ‘Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend’.
Every aspect of the performance is deliberate, from the staging to camera angles, down to the precise beat Monroe girlishly waves her fan on. She has always been magnetising in her own right, but the way the camera follows her is so unrelenting you cannot look away. Dripping in jewels, Monroe is flanked by a carousel of ball-gowned dancers, gleefully rebuffing the men who fawn at her feet.
When she starts singing, it’s initially with the child-like lilt of a Disney-princess, petulant choruses of “No! No!” as men offer her up their hearts. But she soon slips into her trademark breathy vocals as she advises: “Square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don’t lose their shape – diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” It’s dazzling the ease with which she can switch from little girl lost to femme fatale, playing her recurrent type-cast as the dumb blonde with wit and self-awareness.
It comes with a caveat, though, as most of the film’s best wisecracks come from Russell: “You know, I think you’re the only girl in the world who can stand on a stage with a spotlight in her eye and still see a diamond inside a man’s pocket.” Monroe’s lines are equally funny but often written at the expense of her character’s intelligence.
Russell’s own performance on the dance number ‘Ain’t There Anyone Here For Love’ is stunning. It’s a homoerotic wink, as Russell dances with barely dressed male dancers, who are largely more concerned with dancing with each other than her. Russell plays the wiser, more mature brunette to Monroe’s money-obsessed blonde. Cole, in turn, tweaks the choreography for each. Russell dances with command and knowing sensuality – whereas Monroe often loses herself in a throng of male dancers, the perfect metaphor for her love life.
But the platonic love between Lorelei and Dorothy makes the film a classic. The pair act like sisters, and despite all her teasing about her taste in men, Dorothy selflessly protects her friend throughout the film. Both Monroe and Russell shine alongside each other, playing their respective leads with sensuality and humour.
