Comments on Film Experience Blog: Kissing Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn is amazing! I love this movie, it's the fi...

2008-02-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

Marilyn is amazing! I love this movie, it's the first movie with her that I've watched. She was so unusual, she had bright personality. I had found some Marilyn Monroe quotes by her and about her. She was real woman and she is worth being adored!

i cant watch a monroe film or a audrey hepburn fil...

2007-10-27T16:28:00.000-04:00

i cant watch a monroe film or a audrey hepburn film. I cant seem to seperate them from their iconic images. I prefer watching the ones i know nothing about like Rosalind Russel and Katherine Hepburn.

"Terrible in "Bus Stop.""Well that's just crazy ta...

2007-10-27T00:43:00.000-04:00

"Terrible in "Bus Stop.""

Well that's just crazy talk.

I too can understand the "she's not a great actress" argument, but, the thing is she gave perhaps the greatest ever performance out of anyone ever. And by that I mean her performance as herself. She was not how she was perceived. Which is why the hints of sadness that she puts into Some Like It Hot and the performances in movies like Bus Stop and The Misfits feel so deep and real. She was performing her entire life.

When my parents lived in San Diego we'd always go ...

2007-10-26T18:33:00.000-04:00

When my parents lived in San Diego we'd always go to the Hotel del Coronado and I'd have daydreams of Marilyn running through my head the whole time we'd be there ...

Marilyn's one of my ultimate icons. She was sexy, ...

2007-10-26T16:24:00.000-04:00

Marilyn's one of my ultimate icons. She was sexy, she was sassy, she was absolutely amazing and had more curves than a slinky. As Sugar in Some Like it Hot, she rocked.

I loved Some like it Hot.I also enjoyed How to Mar...

2007-10-26T14:43:00.000-04:00

I loved Some like it Hot.
I also enjoyed How to Marry a Millionaire.

I agree women (in film) were more curvier back then. They need to bring it back.lol. I can't believe people think Kate Winslet is fat.

jimmy --i understand the hesitation to include Mon...

2007-10-26T13:00:00.000-04:00

jimmy --i understand the hesitation to include Monroe with some of the more technically accomplished legends but seriously now: jessica tandy? she did so very little for the cinema. i hate to see her placed above Marilyn freaking Monroe.

(but i realized i'm biased against Tandy on account of that whole 1989 lifetime achievement debacle --in order to celebrate her they had to pass over a true cinematic legend. WRONG TOPIC. sorry. my obsessions, my obsessions... they won't go away.)

I also want to add that I don't think we can hold stories of Marilyn's onset behavior and problems with directors against her work. The reason that's unfair is that we know A LOT about Monroe's life in comparison to other screen stars (on account of the public fascination) ---chances are there are a lot of great performances out there which directors had a major hand in. Few stars filmographies are as combed over for details. Why fault Monroe when the work we can look at is so good?

I always found Monroe much warmer, more engrossing...

2007-10-26T12:55:00.000-04:00

I always found Monroe much warmer, more engrossing and human-like than Meryl Streep. It isn't only a matter of beauty and charisma. Few actresses in Hollywood ever gave a comedic performance as arresting, committed and note-perfect as Sugar Kowalczyk. I don't care that she didn't know any of her lines during the shoot - everything that made it on-screen is pure gold. And she's been wonderful in plenty of other films too.

auggh....not to dampen the spirit here - but a "gr...

2007-10-26T10:29:00.000-04:00

auggh....not to dampen the spirit here - but a "great" actress? Hardly...compare her to Streep, Hepburn, Vivian Leigh, Jessica Tandy, Helen Mirren. Hardly....she was luminous, the camera loved her, star quality, great set of real cans, very good in "Some Like it Hot." Terrible in "Bus Stop." Look at the directors she was handed - Billy Wilder, Joshua Logan, Frank Capra, john huston, etc - who had to work work work to get something out of her. In my book - she's the best movie star ever...a legendary personality...but only a passable actress at best.

See, I actually think that as time progresses and ...

2007-10-26T10:13:00.000-04:00

See, I actually think that as time progresses and more people actually watch her films she is actually seen more as a great actress. And as movies like The Misfits now seen as classics, it's easier for people to see her as the smart actress that she was.

The Goddess.Camera has never before, or after, lov...

2007-10-26T09:38:00.000-04:00

The Goddess.
Camera has never before, or after, loved someone as much as her.

rsd that's the thing that bugs me about her iconic...

2007-10-26T09:31:00.000-04:00

rsd that's the thing that bugs me about her iconic nature. so many people don't watch her films so they get this really shallow version of what she is. she's so much fun onscreen (sad/fun but still...)

neel agreed. The funny thing watching old movies: the men are usually skinnier than they are now (Clift, Stewart, Grant --they must have had 27 inch waists) and the women are usually heavier (though Bacall and Hepburn cut pretty modern figures)

Monroe's weight really fluctuates in this movie though. She looks her best in the first couple of scenes I think "running wild, lost control..." love it. She's so curvy and feminine. She gains a lot of weight somewhere between then and the "through with love" number though (hence all the modern "fat" comments --especially since she's wearing a tight sheer gown) but it's still more attractive than the stick/bobblehead look we see now

wasn't she actually pregnant when she filmed this?

crazycris -thanks. i have to keep myself entertained in order to keep writing so much so "new" series are inevitable.

Great idea for a new series Nat! I can't believe I...

2007-10-26T08:59:00.000-04:00

Great idea for a new series Nat! I can't believe I missed the first entry... must have been when my computer died on me. Pity, those kisses in the first 15' of Volver are the main thing that had me cracking up laughing in the cinema because my mom kisses like that (spaniards... sonorous kisses are almost unavoidable) and my aunt is always telling her to stop 'cause she's afraid of being deaf!

Those are funny kisses... Monroe's are more sensual... not many seen like that anymore!

Marilyn's a reminder that an actress should look l...

2007-10-26T08:28:00.000-04:00

Marilyn's a reminder that an actress should look like a woman.

The skinny craze today makes most (English-speaking) female stars look like prepubescent boys or clothes mannequins. It's really sad.

Still one of my all-time favorite movies. I was i...

2007-10-26T07:57:00.000-04:00

Still one of my all-time favorite movies. I was introduced to this in middle school (wait, maybe high school?), I think, by a teacher who also pointed out how "surprisingly" good, how vunerable, Monroe's performance is.

I'm sure she'd be glad that she's remembered, but I'm not sure she'd want to be remembered as she is now, a sort of iconic-cartoon. (The weird thing is when young women admire her - admire the image - without having seen her work.)

Great essay, Nat.

RedSatinDoll