Forever Marilyn Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Forever Marilyn Blu-ray Movie Review

or, The Seven-Disc Itch

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater August 2, 2012

She was the innocent girl next door and a va-va-voom sex symbol. A "dumb" blond anxious to be taken seriously. The archetypal exploited starlet and a shrewd showbiz negotiator. An on-top-of-the-world performer with a personal life in shambles. A flame snuffed out too soon and a 20th century pop culture icon forever immortalized on the screen. Marilyn Monroe was and is a glorious contradiction, and the enigma of her life, career, and death has inspired an ongoing stream of biographies and photobooks, critical commentary and general interest. As this year is the 50th anniversary of Monroe's probable suicide, the tributes have been coming in at an even faster pace, from Vanity Fair covers to NBC's Smash to the recent My Week with Marilyn.

20th Century Fox is getting in on the action with the Forever Marilyn collection, a seven-disc set that includes a selection of films made between 1952 and 1962, the decade that took Monroe from a pretty up-and-coming face to the most recognized and highly paid actress on the planet. The films are also available individually—Some Like It Hot and The Misfits came out last year, the rest arrive simultaneously this week—and since the set itself comes with no exclusive special features or bonus discs, it's really up to fans if they want to go all in or pick and choose which titles they want. (Note that you do save a ton of cash by buying the set.) Below, you'll find pertinent details about the seven-disc set and links to brief reviews of the films included and their high definition presentations.

Films Included

• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The saucy Howard Hawks musical that introduced the phrase "diamonds are a girl's best friend" into the cultural lexicon, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as a pair of showgirls crossing the Atlantic on a posh cruise ship.
• How to Marry a Millionaire: Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable play gold-diggers trying to woo wealthy men and ultimately learning that love is more valuable than money.
• River of No Return: One Marilyn's least favorite of her own films—she unfairly called it "a grade-Z cowboy movie in which the acting finished second to the scenery and the Cinemascope process"—River of No Return is actually a decent wild west adventure/romance, co-starring Robert Mitchum.
• There's No Business Like Show Business: Irving Berlin's musical bore and box office flop only features Marilyn in what amounts to an extended cameo—albeit worth watching for her sexed-up rendition of "Heat Wave." The least-necessary film in the collection. If only we had gotten Niagara or Bus Stop instead.
• The Seven Year Itch: Monroe is the prototypical "manic pixie dream girl" in this stage adaptation from Billy Wilder, a sex-farce about infidelity, guilt, and paranoia. One of Marilyn's most memorable performances.
• Some Like It Hot: And then there's Some Like It Hot, widely considered to be one of—if not the—best American comedies in cinema history. Innuendo-laced and controversially released without MPAA certification, the film was also one of the last nails in the Hays Code's coffin.
• The Misfits: Marilyn's last completed film is a sad—and gorgeously shot—cowboy drama about western drifters on the outskirts of society, penned by her husband Arthur Miller. Co-star Clark Gable died only twelve days after production wrapped, and Marilyn would follow a year and a half later, giving the film an uneasy sense of gravity and finality.

Packaging and Final Thoughts

The collection comes in a slightly flimsy cardboard slipcase that's surprisingly—for a seven-disc release—only a few millimeters thicker than a standard Blu-ray jewel case. Inside, you'll find two fold-out "books," with the discs—four in the first, three in the second—inserted into scalloped slits. When my set arrived, three of the discs had slipped out, so that should tell you something about the construction. Those with hangups about this sort of thing might want to consider the individual releases, simply for the more solid, standard packaging, but as long as the set's just sitting on your shelf, I don't think this is a big deal. The photography on the "books" is nice, but there are no exclusives here otherwise—no booklets or postcards or promotional baubles. It would've been great, for instance, if Fox had gone above and beyond—in the style of Criterion— commissioning someone to write an essay about the films and including notes on the restorations and transfers. Alas. Still, it's a boon to simply have more Marilyn movies in high definition. Whether you buy 'em all at once or pick 'em out individually at your leisure is up to you, but rest assured, aside from one dud—the dull musical There's No Business Like Show Business—all of these films are worthy additions to any collection.