Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

In this 1953 musical comedy adapted from Anita Loos’s searingly funny 1925 novella—which also spawned a now-lost silent film in 1928 and a smash Broadway production in 1949—Howard Hawks’s Lorelei (Marilyn Monroe) is resplendent. She is seen throughout the picture in jewel tones and literal jewels, carefully selected by costume designer Travilla to play up the Technicolor cinematography lensed by Harry J. Wild. The film’s use of pink is observed in the museum’s Color in Motion exhibition alongside contemporary classics such as Barbie (2023) and But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), which situates the comedy as both effervescent and timeless.

DIRECTED BY: Howard Hawks. WRITTEN BY: Charles Lederer. WITH: Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid. 1953. 91 min. USA. Technicolor. English. DCP.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 

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