BOOTLEG FILES 858: “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” (1955 musical starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Craig).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube and DailyMotion.com.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Most likely because of music rights clearance problems.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
Despite its similar title, the vaguely identical plot involving two American showgirls in Paris and the presence of Jane Russell, the 1955 “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” is not a sequel to the 1953 “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” Yes, the source material – Anita Loos’ 1927 novel “But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” – is a sequel to her 1925 “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” but the film does not use the plot of the Loos book.
Indeed, the two films should not be mentioned in the same breath. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is one of the greatest musical comedies of all time – a witty, stylish, rollicking classic that offered Russell and Marilyn Monroe their best screen roles. “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” doesn’t come close to the first production’s greatness at any level.
Mary Loos, the niece of Anita Loos, wrote the screenplay with her husband Richard Sale, who found a niche directing less-than-exciting musicals including “I’ll Get By” (1951), “Meet Me After the Show” (1951) and “The Girl Next Door” (1953). Russell, whose career received a much-needed boost when she was cast in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” hoped to repeat her success with a similar film. Working with her husband Robert Waterfield, they formed a production company to create this work. They also tapped Jack Cole, who choreographed “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and directed the film’s iconic music sequences – Howard Hawks, the credited director, belatedly acknowledged he played no role behind the camera for such iconic numbers as “Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
So, what went wrong? For starters, Monroe seems to be a phantom presence in “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes,” with Russell trying vainly to channel Monroe’s Lorelei into her performance as Bonnie Jones, a dim showgirl who is too eager to marry any handsome man that asks for her hand. Russell was the ultimate tough broad on the big screen – with her lantern jaw, her air of world weariness and, of course, a bosom that was grand enough to warrant its own ZIP code, she was the take-charge gal in her pictures. Heck, her Dorothy Shaw in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is the ultimate sexually liberated woman, a true anomaly of the conformist Eisenhower era. Quite frankly, she was not believable as a dum-dum and the uncharacteristically bad performance throws the film off-kilter. And to be catty, it also didn’t help that she was given a severely short and unflattering hairstyle.
Complicating matters further was the decision to cast Jeanne Crain as Russell’s co-star. Crain was a well-regarded 20th Century Fox star in the 1940s and early 1950s, earning an Oscar nomination for the controversial “Pinky” (1949). Although she appeared in two musicals, “State Fair” (1945) and “Centennial Summer” (1946), she was not a singer and her musical numbers had to be dubbed. And while she does an adequate lip sync job in “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes,” she lacks the vivacity that one expected of movie musical stars.
The meager plot of “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” involves Russell and Crain as showgirl sisters who wind up in Paris, where they immediately become a sensation thanks to old-time crooner Rudy Vallee (playing himself), who recalled the women’s mother and aunt when they were showgirls in the 1920s; Russell and Crain put on blonde wigs to play their elders in flashback. While in Paris, they fall in love with a pair of Americans – Russell with a talent agent (played by Scott Brady) and Crain with the agent’s would-be entertainer roommate (played by Alan Young). There are plenty of obvious jokes about those naughty Parisian cabaret acts and some obvious romcom entanglements. Except of a bizarre last-minute twist regarding the identity of one of the characters, one can easily connect the dots in this film without half-trying.
To its credit, “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” takes advantage of its Parisian locations for several travelogue-worthy sequences that are wonderfully framed in Cinemascope and Technicolor. The film also includes some Great American Songbook tunes that are always a joy to hear, including “My Funny Valentine,” “I Want to Be Loved By You” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” – the latter features Young in a gorilla costume for a theatrical number featuring white male dancers in blackface and black body make-up pretending to be African warriors who want to boil the showgirls in a giant pot – yikes! And kink fans will be interested in a dream sequence where Russell is abducted by hunky cowboys and is branded – double yikes!
But unfortunately, “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” is stuck in the shadow of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and cannot compare with the grand classic. And even if one is unfamiliar with “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” this work is little more than a not-so-exciting curio.
While “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” has played on television for years, it has never been released in any American home entertainment format. Most likely, the beloved songs on the soundtrack are the subject of music rights clearance issues. However, a decent print can be found in an unauthorized upload to YouTube.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.
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