Gentlemen Prefer Blondes begins a four-day run at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario in Canada on Sunday, January 18.
“There is simply nothing like Technicolor. The pinnacle of colour processing technology in Hollywood, its richly saturated hues gave filmmakers an entirely new expressive palette-one capable of heightening emotion, conjuring fantasy, and etching images into memory with brilliant vibrancy … from enchanting animation, to the overflowing passions of melodrama, the stylish intensity of psychodrama, the exuberance of musical comedy, and the majestic opulence of the historical epic.
Our seven-week Technicolor series, The Wonderful World of Technicolor, kicks off with one of the era’s most iconic films, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in which Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell charm their way through romance, misadventures, and dazzling musical spectacle on a transatlantic voyage. The Tuesday evening screening [January 20] will be introduced by series curators Adam Cook and Hilary Jay.
Howard Hawks’ buoyant musical follows showgirl Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) and her friend Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell) as they embark on a transatlantic voyage, navigating romance, scheming suitors, and comic misadventures along the way. The film showcases Technicolor at its most flamboyant, bursting with candy-coloured set pieces and dazzling song-and-dance numbers. Monroe, at the peak of her star power, delivers one of her defining performances, blending comic innocence with sly sophistication in a way only she could. The result is a boisterous, sparkling comedy whose visual wit and chromatic brilliance exemplify Technicolor’s unmatched ability to elevate glamour into something mythic.”
The Marilyn Report 