Two of Marilyn’s funniest movies are coming to Øst for Paradis (Danish for ‘East of Eden’) in Aarhus, Denmark this month.
- GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES: Tuesday, September 15 at 9:30 pm – “Howard Hawks saw like no other that the super icon Marilyn Monroe was above all a product of fantasy, and that as such she functioned best in a surreal and campy fantasy universe. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes he pitted her against the masculine and dark Jane Russell, and the film succeeded beyond measure. It is a pure song treasure, and Monroe’s performance of ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ in a pink cocktail dress, razor-sharp choreography and a twinkle in her eye has set a school and inspired Madonna, Beyoncé and many others. Refined, elegant, satirical – the definitive Marilyn film!”
- THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH: Tuesday, September 29 at 8:30 pm – “When Billy Wilder adapted George Axelrod’s wildly popular play into a film, he was forced by Hays Code censorship to remove the most explicit parts of the adultery drama. Yet Wilder, who had learned from the master Ernst Lubitsch, managed to make the comedy about a man attracted to his female neighbour sexier, funnier and more provocative than the play ever was, thanks in no small part to Marilyn Monroe’s sensuality and comedic timing. Marilyn Monroe is simply radiant in the role of ‘The Girl,’ who in an iconic scene finds air beneath her white dress as she stands over the warm stream of air from a sidewalk grate.”
UPDATE:
The Misfits is showing at Øst for Paradis on Friday, October 13 at 9:00 pm. (Interestingly, the film’s Danish title translates to ‘The Liberated’ or ‘The Freedmen.’)
“There was a lot at stake during the filming of The Freedmen. Clark Gable had heart problems and saw the role as potentially his last, Arthur Miller saw the film as a way to write himself out of five years of inactivity, and the role of Roslyn was a love gift to Marilyn Monroe, his wife, who saw the film as an opportunity to prove her worth as a dramatic actress after a series of comedic roles.
The film follows Roslyn (Monroe), who comes to Reno from Chicago and meets a trio of cowboys. Clark Gable died 11 days after filming ended, and the awareness of this, and Marilyn’s death shortly after, lends a dark melancholy to the film’s tale of the end of the Wild West.”