Tonight I was a happily finished-with-her-homework-for-the-week college student, so I decided to treat myself to a good TV show. If you've seen the commercials for NBC's show "Smash" and are just dying for it to premiere, look no further than Hulu. The website has the first episode in its pre-premiere full-length glory (http://www.hulu.com/watch/321922/smash-special-full-length-preview-episode-1). The basic plot-line appears to be two girls (Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty) competing for the starring role in a new musical about Marilyn Monroe.
Being the old movie buff that I am, I couldn't help but love the clips from and references to Billy Wilder's 1959 classic "Some Like It Hot." If you haven't seen it, do. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play two young men escaping gangsters by dressing in drag and joining an all-girls band. In the band they meet the one and only Marilyn Monroe, whose character they both immediately fall in love with. With musical numbers, pitfalls, and cross-dressing this comedy is poised for laugh after laugh.
Every time that I've seen this movie, my attention has been caught by one particular dress that Marilyn wears while performing "I Wanna Be Loved By You" and then on her date with Tony Curtis's character. No matter how modern or scandalous the age we live in is, this dress still seems shocking to me. Cut to show off one (or should I say two) of Marilyn's greatest assets, the sequin placement over sheer fabric in the bodice of this dress leaves both everything and nothing to the imagination. As if that weren't enough, the back is fully exposed (much more like dresses you would see today). The sexuality of the dress may almost breach the line of sexy and promiscuous. I feel as if even the director may have been cognizant of this fact; if you look at the lighting in the video clip below, the spotlight makes a pointed effort to leave everything from her collar-bone down in shadow. In a not-so-peculiar trend of old films, Bert Henrikson was in charge of the wardrobe for the film, but Orry-Kelly was the designer of Miss Monroe's gowns.
Such a great film that I can watch over and over again. Thanks for reminding me of its amazingness, I think a movie session is in order! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.com/
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