BROOKLYN EAGLE, THUR, JULY 16,1952 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' Arrives on the Roxy Screen Film version of the long-run stage comedy, tailored to nit the endowments of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, provides light, spicy entertainment. By JANE CORBY "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," the musical film version of the Joseph Fields-Anita Loos musical, Is bouncing around, the screen at the Roxy Theater, filling, to judge from the stampede of patrons In the aisles, a long-felt void in film entertainment Between the continuous hulla- 'balloo about the story, which "was originally in book form, way back in the 1920s, and the recent musical of the name, which gave the Ziegfeld The ater the longest run in its quar ter of a century history, along with the natural audience interest in film stars Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, who play the famous diamond-loving Lorelei Le and her friend Dorothy, respectively, the Roxy, it In the presence of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell none of this matters, and they're al ways present, together or singly, in this picture. These two scintillating stars keep attention riveted on themselves, and with both In the film, it doesn't make a particle of dif ference what happens to the story line. Marilyn Monroe's Lorelei is a dumb little blond girl, who doesn't quite lisp but seems to be on the verge of it, and who voices the shrewdly coramer- "GENTLEMKIf FUm BLONDES" 94Hfc Contnry-Faa Teeaaleolar mualaal film. M4 er fUwrt Hnwka and aradared or Bet C. Saerei. him Charlea 1 i i nhcorvatinna nf tho pharap, Ijodenif. MM the awetral comedy SSISt4- Tier in a soft treble, accompanied CAST Jena Raeeen, Marilyn Monroe, by an accomplished babv-stare. fESSE? lane Russell lopes around in Norm Vartten, Hawartl Wendell. GENU MELL, prima ballerina, starred with the Radio City Music Hall Corps de Ballet in the current stage revue, "Alpine Echoes." 'The Band Wagon" is on the screen. lovely-long-legged strides, and between wisecracks tries to is perfectly safe to predict, has 'curb her friend's predatory in- one of the hits of the year on its hands. The screen version of the racy classic has undergone some changes. Two new songs have been added and others have been cut out The time of the story has been stepped up from the 1920s to now. In the -course of all these changes it has become glaringly evident that irs not much of a storyl anyhow, that the humor is crude to the point of slapstick, that the dialogue is rough rather than sophisticated. rrri Wrong, praf thli ifirrfitg firit novel! AS LONG AS LOVE SHALL LAST by violt aUobold 33.50 Al rnr noolutnre, or From jVANTACE PRESS, INC, N.w Tark. stincts in regard to diamonds. The hit song of the original show, "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," sparks the film's biggest production number, with Miss Monroe and a male line putting it across with zest. Later the same song serves for a zingy courtroom scene, with Miss Russell, in a blond wig and with the Monroe mannerisms, repeating the perform ance with some flourishes of her own. Besides "Diamonds" from the stage show, there are two more of "the original tunes, "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" and "Bye, Bye, Baby," with two new songs, "Anyone Here for Love" and "When Love Goes sung by both girls. Humor Is Broad The story remains in general the same as the musical. Lore lei Lee and her friend Dorothy are packed off to Europe by Lorelei's boy friend, whose millionaire father is trying to break up the affair, and Lorelei keeps in diamond -collecting practice by looking for a prospect on the boat. Dorothy be lieves in love, without a thought for diamonds. They have ad ventures in keeping with their personal tastes, and the picture winds up with wedding bells tor botn. The humor Is broad, com- pletely unsubtle, and reaches its apex, as far as the audience is concerned, when Marilyn and Jane, looking for a certain roll of photographic film, conspire to yank the pants off Elliott Reid, suspected of harboring it. in spite of this episode, the men in the picture manage to corral only the most casual at tention in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Besides Reid, who as Dorothy's boy friend con tributes a good performance, Charles Coburn is amusing as a gay old boy who owns a dia mond mine and Tommy Noo- nan is mawkish, but suitably so, as Miss Monroes well heeled admirer. But this picture belongs to Marilyn Monroe and Jane Rus sell, and while acting a little, dancing a little and singing a little they give the customers a double eyeful. Maybe the stage versions of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" relied on sophisticated dialogue and jazzy tunes for their box-office pull. Only the Misses Monroe and Russell count in the screen version. On Roxy Stage "Boardwalk Fancies," the new Summer revue on the Roxy's Ice-Colorama stage, features Marleen Smith, Peggy Wallace, Trixie, Tommy McGinnis, Marc Nelson, Larry Griswold, and the Roxy Skating Blades and Belles and the Choraleers. wf To 'Stalctg 17 Again Held at the Astor For the second successive week "Stalag 17" has proven one of 4 the biggest boxofflce a'ttractioii3 to play the Astor Theater in years. Business reg istered by this Billy Wilder I II 4 1
