Themes: Actor's Life, Looking For Love, Assumed Identities
Main Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Yves Montand, Tony Randall, Frankie Vaughan, Wilfrid Hyde-White
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
Plot
Let's Make Love is a breezy comedy about an off Broadway musical production. Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand) is the richest man in the world and looking for someone who loves him instead of his money. He reads in Variety he is to be satirized in the new production and tries out for the part. The producers hire him, unaware of his real identity. He hires Bing Crosby, Milton Berle and Gene Kelly to coach him for the role. Amanda (Marilyn Monroe) is the poor aspiring actress who lands a part in the play. Her opening number is the classic "My Heart Belongs To Daddy". Unaware of his fabulous wealth, she falls for the playboy billionaire during the rehearsals for the show. Tony Randall plays Montand's fussy public relations agent and tries to keep his boss from embarassment. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
"Marilyn Monroe in Let's Make Love" sounds like a tantalizing prospect, but the end result is unfortunately an only so-so semi-musical, despite some solid work from Monroe. Co-star Yves Montand is frequently blamed for the film's lack of sizzle, and he certainly is part of the problem. Montand is bland at best, his supposed Gallic charm just not surviving the translation from French to English. Away from a chanson, his singing voice comes across as wan and dry, and his acting is by-the-numbers; beware of the section in which he demonstrates what Milton Berle has taught him in the way of comedy. But Montand is not entirely to blame. The screenplay lacks sparkle, and its premise is absurd and artificial. The latter wouldn't be a problem if director George Cukor were operating in top form; with the proper hand, absurd and artificial can become charming and diverting. But Cukor can't get a grip on the right tone, and the movie never really finds its footing. And while the songs are arranged in an entertaining late 1950s fashion, the songs themselves ("My Heart Belongs to Daddy" excepted) are undistinguished. Fortunately, Jack Cole's distinctive choreography brightens the numbers up, and Monroe is in fine musical form (even if Frankie Vaughan, with whom she shares most of the numbers, is not.) It's not one of Monroe's great performances, but she keeps the ship afloat, helped by a nicely underplayed Tony Randall and a dependable Wilfrid Hyde-White. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The plot revolves around billionaire Jean-Marc Clement (Montand) who learns that he is to be satirized in an off-Broadway revue. After going to the theatre, he sees Amanda (Monroe) rehearsing the Cole Porter song "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", and by accident the director thinks him an actor suitable to play himself in the revue. Clement takes the part in order to see more of Amanda and plays along with the mistaken identity.
Let's Make Love was an ill-fated project, with Monroe, Montand and Cukor all considering it subpar. In her recent history, Monroe had garnered critical acclaim for her performances in Bus Stop (1956), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), and Some Like It Hot (1959). Let's Make Love did not appeal to her, but she was obliged to shoot the picture because of her contractual obligations with Twentieth Century Fox. The affair between Monroe and Montand complicated matters. At the time, Monroe was married to playwright Arthur Miller and Montand to actress Simone Signoret.
