Marilyn Monroe on the Centennial
Few stars have been so defined by their image as Marilyn Monroe, and few stars have so insistently resisted that image. On the year where she would have turned 100, this Marilyn Monroe weekend marathon looks to the varied screen persona she developed even at the earliest stages of her career. The triple feature of films from 1952-1953 focuses on a moment after her small but influential cameo roles in All About Eve (1950) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and before her true rise to stardom with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire later in 1953.
In this weekend’s films Monroe moves from screwball comedy to noir to an early dramatic role that showcases her serious acting abilities. In Monkey Business, Monroe is still a supporting character but already demonstrates the comedic timing and intelligence later shown in her most beloved roles. Don’t Bother to Knock is a counterpoint, her first major dramatic starring role; her performance of a psychologically troubled woman reveals an actress more interested in emotional complexity than critics might have credited her as being. Niagara is the moment Monroe’s persona became a true phenomenon. Seen together, the films chart Monroe’s emergence from a bit-part contract actress to a cultural icon: an actress still testing out her persona on screen.
Monkey Business (1952)
Howard Hawks · 97m · DCP
Cary Grant plays Dr. Barnaby Fulton: a mild-mannered research chemist developing a “rejuvenation” cure, or elixir of youth. An escaped chimp dumps his product in the water supply, and hilarity ensues... A young Marilyn Monroe plays Fulton’s love-struck secretary, who he takes for an impromptu jaunt around town. The last of Hawks’ films in the screwball mode, Monkey Business also recalls those that came before: perhaps the elixir not only regresses the characters, but the actors too, evoking their younger screen personas and the bygone era to which they belonged.
Saturday, November 7 3:00 PM
Niagara (1953)
Henry Hathaway · 92m · DCP
The rare technicolor noir, Niagara stars Marilyn Monroe opposite Joseph Cotten as Rose and George Loomis in Monroe’s first and last femme fatale role. The two play a disaffected couple vacationing at the titular waterfall, where Rose’s less-than-virtuous intentions toward her husband arouse the suspicions of a pair of nearby newlyweds. It was this film — and its subsequent box-office success — that truly cemented Monroe’s status as a global icon and helped define the sex-symbol persona with which she would become synonymous.
Saturday, November 7 9:30 PM
Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
Roy Ward Baker · 76m · DCP
At a New York hotel, the Joneses leave their daughter with Nell (Marilyn Monroe), whose prim appearance masks a troubled inner life. After sending the child to bed, she puts on Mrs. Jones’ perfume and jewelry. Jed (Richard Widmark), dealing with his own romantic troubles, watches from across the courtyard and pays her a visit. Monroe performs Nell as both alluring and vulnerable, portraying her complexity with empathy and courage and revealing a dramatic range too often obscured by her subsequent typecasting.
