Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) on Netflix
NR19531h 31mComedyCrimeMusical
Showgirl Lorelei Lee plans to marry Gus Esmond Jr., but his father disapproves and hires a detective to watch her. Sailing to France with Dorothy Shaw, Lorelei meets a diamond mine owner.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.1/1047,073 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes88%
Trailer
Plot summary
Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw are showgirls and close friends who look for different things in a man. Lorelei sets her sights on money and diamonds, and her fiancé, Gus Esmond Jr., can provide both. His father, Esmond Sr., has never met her and believes she is after the family fortune, so he refuses to let the couple cross to France together. Gus hands Lorelei a letter of credit for her expenses and says he will follow her, cautioning that any gossip reaching his father could end their engagement. Esmond Sr. has engaged the private detective Ernie Malone to shadow her. On the voyage, Malone becomes smitten with Dorothy, who prefers the athletes of the American Olympic team. Lorelei also catches the eye of Sir Francis 'Piggy' Beekman, a wealthy diamond mine owner whose wife, Lady Beekman, dislikes the attention.
Cast
- David Ahdaras Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- Alex Akimoffas Captain of Waiters (uncredited)
- Aladdinas Musician (uncredited)
- John Albanas Ship Passenger (uncredited)
- Gordon Armitageas Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
- Patricia Barkeras Small Role (uncredited)
- Virginia Batesas Chorus Girl (uncredited)
- Mary Ellen Battenas Chorus Girl (uncredited)
- Harry Baumas Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- According to Monroe's last interview before her death, she was paid her usual contract salary of $500 a week, $18,000 in total, while Jane Russell, the better-known actress at the time, earned $200,000.
- Credited director Howard Hawks later admitted he had nothing to do with staging the musical numbers, confirming co-star Jane Russell's account that choreographer Jack Cole directed them instead.
- The original intention was a vehicle for Betty Grable and Ginger Rogers, but after the success of Monroe's appearance in Niagara the studio believed it had a more potent, and less expensive, sex symbol than Grable.
- A young, uncredited George Chakiris can be spotted as one of the suitors chasing Marilyn Monroe during 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend'; he would later win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for West Side Story.
- The musical has admirers far from Hollywood: German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder declared Gentlemen Prefer Blondes one of the ten best films ever made.
