{"id":43259,"date":"2024-03-22T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=43259"},"modified":"2024-03-22T06:56:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T10:56:51","slug":"the-bootleg-files-gentlemen-marry-brunettes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/22\/the-bootleg-files-gentlemen-marry-brunettes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Gentlemen Marry Brunettes"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 858:<\/strong> \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d (1955 musical starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Craig). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN: <\/strong>On YouTube and DailyMotion.com.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.
\n
\nREASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Most likely because of music rights clearance problems.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

Despite its similar title, the vaguely identical plot involving two American showgirls in Paris and the presence of Jane Russell, the 1955 \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d is not a sequel to the 1953 \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes.\u201d Yes, the source material \u2013 Anita Loos\u2019 1927 novel \u201cBut Gentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d \u2013 is a sequel to her 1925 \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes,\u201d but the film does not use the plot of the Loos book. <\/p>\n

Indeed, the two films should not be mentioned in the same breath. \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d is one of the greatest musical comedies of all time \u2013 a witty, stylish, rollicking classic that offered Russell and Marilyn Monroe their best screen roles. \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d doesn\u2019t come close to the first production\u2019s greatness at any level.
\n<\/p>\n

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 \u201cI\u2019ll Get By\u201d (1951), \u201cMeet Me After the Show\u201d (1951) and \u201cThe Girl Next Door\u201d (1953). Russell, whose career received a much-needed boost when she was cast in \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes,\u201d 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 \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d and directed the film\u2019s iconic music sequences \u2013 Howard Hawks, the credited director, belatedly acknowledged he played no role behind the camera for such iconic numbers as \u201cAin\u2019t There Anyone Here for Love\u201d and \u201cDiamonds Are a Girl\u2019s Best Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what went wrong? For starters, Monroe seems to be a phantom presence in \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes,\u201d with Russell trying vainly to channel Monroe\u2019s 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 \u2013 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 \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d 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\u2019t help that she was given a severely short and unflattering hairstyle.<\/p>\n

Complicating matters further was the decision to cast Jeanne Crain as Russell\u2019s co-star. Crain was a well-regarded 20th Century Fox star in the 1940s and early 1950s, earning an Oscar nomination for the controversial \u201cPinky\u201d (1949). Although she appeared in two musicals, \u201cState Fair\u201d (1945) and \u201cCentennial Summer\u201d (1946), she was not a singer and her musical numbers had to be dubbed. And while she does an adequate lip sync job in \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes,\u201d she lacks the vivacity that one expected of movie musical stars.<\/p>\n

The meager plot of \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d 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\u2019s 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 \u2013 Russell with a talent agent (played by Scott Brady) and Crain with the agent\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

To its credit, \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d 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 \u201cMy Funny Valentine,\u201d \u201cI Want to Be Loved By You\u201d and \u201cAin\u2019t Misbehavin\u2019\u201d \u2013 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 \u2013 yikes! And kink fans will be interested in a dream sequence where Russell is abducted by hunky cowboys and is branded – double yikes!<\/p>\n

But unfortunately, \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d is stuck in the shadow of \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d and cannot compare with the grand classic. And even if one is unfamiliar with \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes,\u201d this work is little more than a not-so-exciting curio. <\/p>\n

While \u201cGentlemen Marry Brunettes\u201d 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.<\/p>\n