This came up in conversation this weekend while watching “Happy, Texas”, a re-do of “Some Like It Hot”. What was Marilyn Monroe’s best work? Why?
Steamboat Willie.
Oh, no Mickey Mouse?
Whoops.
Austin Powers : International Man of Mystery.
Wait…not Mike Meyers?
Carry on.
Kids these days… Don’t have any respect for the great blondes of our time… 
“Kids these days… Don’t have any respect for the great blondes of our time…”
—Couldn’t agree more. Mae Murray’s best movie? “The Merry Widow,” of course.
. . . Oh, wait—you meant the other MM, Marilyn? OK. Marilyn Miller’s best movie was “Her Majesty, Love.”
IMO “Some Like It Hot” is the most entertaining (she played off Curtis and Lemmon so well) with “Gentlemen Prefer Blonds” (her ditzy and Russell’s savy were a nice balance) probably a close second. Possibly her best acting (with a bit of overacting thrown in) was (still IMO) “The Misfits”. However when you are in a scene with Clift and Gable are insecure to begin with, you may feel the need to overact.
I’ve seen clips for the comedy she was working on at the time of her death (the one with Dean Martin-later done with Doris Day and James Garner as “Move Over Darling”) and it had magic in those scenes she was in.
Ah! Now we’re getting somewhere! Where does one find clips for movies that never made release? D’ya have to sell your immortal soul, or can any shmuck off the street street get a glimpse?
I would say that her best performance came in Some Like it Hot. The best film in which she played a part was All About Eve.
I would think the answer to this OP would be obvious to everyone.
A Clockwork Orange is Malcolm McDowell’s best film by far.
I’ve always been partial to La Dolce Vita (Marcello Mastroianni), Passion Fish (Mary McDonnell), La Lectrice (Miou-Miou), The General (Marion Mack), Sweet Smell of Success (Martin Milner), The Age of Innocence (Miriam Margolyes), Meet Me in St. Louis (Marjorie Main), and McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Michael Murphy)
I’d go with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (although she was pretty good in All About Eve, too). I didn’t see The Misfits, unfortunately.
Oh, and Mae Marsh’s best film was undoubtedly “Intolerance.” Marion Marsh’s? “Svengali.” And did anyone catch Mary Miles Minter in “The Eyes of Julia Deep?”
I shoulda known better than to ask for film critics! Now I’m gonna spend the rest of the night looking up obscure film references! I’ll be renting old movies until I’m old!
Thanks, y’all…!
:::dragging the thread kicking and screaming back on topic:::
Of the Monroe movies I’ve seen (meaning those in which she starred) the best is The Prince and the Showgirl. A completely charming confection in which she plays the eponymous showgirl to Laurence Olivier’s prince (regent, actually, but why quibble). MM hadn’t become “MM” yet so she was able to play the part without veering into self-parody, and she played off Olivier perfectly. Add to that a delightful supporting cast, especially Sybil Thorndike as a thoroughly dotty Queen Dowager, and you have a movie that gets more and more fun every time it’s viewed.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled off-topicality. Did Marvin Mitchelsen make any movies?
Gotta go with Some Like It Hot. I think it is one of the finest films ever made, and I’m not kidding.
Sure, it might have required 59 takes for Monroe to properly say, “where’s the bourbon,” but the one time she does it right, it’s perfect.
Monroe: If there’s anything I can do for you…
Lemmon: I can think of a million things…
(Monroe, startled, dives into Lemmon’s bunk, burying her head in his lap)
Lemmon: That’s one of 'em!
I thought Mickey Mantle did an adequate job of playing himself in That Touch of Mink, and I’ve been told that Safe at Home is awful, so I’d have to go with the former.
I think Marilyn Monroe was overrated. She was never very good at playing the “dumb blonde” roles she was cast in*. At her best, she was tolerable; I’d go with “Some Like It Hot.”
*Compare her to Jean Hagen in “Singin’ In the Rain,” Maureen Arthur in “How to Succeed in Business” (not a blonde, but the same type of character), or anything Gracie Allen ever did.
I think Roger & Me was far better than The Big One. Of course, Canadian Bacon is often overlooked when answering questions like this.
I’m somewhat of a Marilyn freak. I’ve always thought she never knew she was better in comedy than anything else, but hated to be thought of AS “the dumb blonde”, which she really wasn’t.
But, IMO, her best flicks were Bus Stop, The Seven Year Itch, and Some Like It Hot. In that order.
I really liked Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, too, but it wasn’t fabulous. Except for the costumes.
She probably would have been great in The Misfits, too, if she’d have stayed sober. From what I have gleaned, she despised that movie/play, and Arthur Miller wrote it with HER in mind in the leading role.
I think she could have been better than what she was. I just don’t think she gave herself the chance, and from what I’ve read, nobody else did either, at least from her point of view.
Hmmm… “Bus Stop”. Never seen that one. “The Prince and The Showgirl”. Missed that one, too.[sub]gets out note pad, starts scribbling[/sub]
Thanks, folks! I’m learning far more than I expected. 