Loco Dempsey, Pola Debevoise and Schatze Page, each one a pretty model, their goal in life?, to marry millionaires. They set themselves up in a top apartment and set about wooing any potential suitors, trouble is is that it's hard to tell the rich from the normal, and love may just have a say after all.

Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall play our three dubiously motivated ladies, each one putting a delightful stamp on each respective character. Filmed in CinemaScope, New York {and the girls Manhattan apartment}is beautifully realised and with the restored DVDs available, the colour positively gleams on the screen. The story itself is a fun one, tho at its core it's of course greedy and selfish, but this is a romantic comedy that plays out with delightful ease, and thankfully doesn't contain pointless filler scenes to purely showcase the actresses on show.

Monroe has never looked as pretty as she does here, some of her other films are obviously more famous, but she radiates sexiness and with her character being vision impaired, she gets to show the wonderful comedic talent that she definitely had. Bacall clearly is the best actor on show, so it's no surprise that she gets the best written part, at times bitter, intelligent and determined, her Schatze Page character is the glue binding the picture {and the girls}together. Betty Grable is solid without really impacting a great deal, with the boys {notably Rory Calhoun}offering entertaining support. How To Marry A Millionaire is simply a delightful movie that never over tries your patience, it's a fun ride with a little something for everyone, and it cheerily pays you off at the end. 7/10

Have just recently started seeing a few of Jean Negulesco's films and have really enjoyed all of those seen. As well as him, the main reason for seeing 'How to Marry a Millionaire' was the cast, as cliched as this sounds it is hard to resist casts filled with as much as talent that 'How to Marry a Millionaire'. Just as much as it is saying it is hard to resist great concepts in film, that's another common reason for seeing a film from my stance.

Although it didn't blow me away, 'How to Marry a Millionaire' is very much a treat still. It is one of Negulesco's better known films, and also one of his better ones. 'How to Marry a Millionaire' is a superbly made, perfectly cast and wittily scripted film and of good historical interest. Being the second film to feature CinemaScope, after 'The Robe' (on an irrelevant side note, of the two films to me this film is the better one). It may be too slight and vacuous and some seemed to have found the content distasteful. The above though and the chemistry between and performances of the cast more than compensates.

The biggest, and only really major, issue with 'How to Marry a Millionaire' is the prologue. Despite Alfred Newman's wonderful music, the sequence is far too long, is pace-wise long-winded and added nothing to the film.

It is a relatively slight film on a story level and does lack depth.

On the other hand, of all the films seen recently 'How to Marry a Millionaire' stands out as one of the best when it comes to visuals. CinemaScope was still in its infancy and it already looks marvellous, such rich colours and much of the photography dazzles. The fashions similarly stun and the sets are evocative too. Newman's score typically shows his mastery and why he was so highly regarded as a composer. Negulesco directs with confidence in a film and style far removed from the other films of his recently watched, which were darker and grittier.

Regarding the script, it is wonderfully witty as aforementioned with some of the best lines coming from Lauren Bacall. The story engages and charms, even if depth is lacking.

Even better than the script and as good as the production values is the cast. William Powell is most note-worthy of the men, his wit and suavity shining. The ladies steal the show however, with dazzling and sometimes vulnerable Marilyn Monroe, snappy and lively Betty Grable and wonderfully acid-tongued Lauren Bacall.

On the whole, liked this very good. Has a false start with the prologue but well worth sticking with. 8/10

I hate the merchandising people at the major studios. Often, to boost sales they misrepresent movies to attract audiences. One of the worst examples is 20th Century-Fox's marketing of videotapes and DVDs of films in which Marilyn Monroe appeared. While HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE isn't the worst case, by looking at the box art you'd assume that she was the lead in this film. In reality, there were three leads--Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. It was truly an ensemble film. Now as I said, this was not the worst example. In many of her earliest films Monroe was only a bit player--yet she is prominently featured on the cover art! Take a look at the art on the IMDb pages for THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, LOVE HAPPY or MONKEY BUSINESS--you'll see what I mean even though she was a supporting or bit actress in these films.

In HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, it's actually good that you have the ensemble cast. After all, how can you make it a story about three money-hungry roommates if Monroe plays all three parts!! Plus, at the time the film was made, Betty Grable received top billing as she was the more established and prestigious star at the time. A few short years later, Miss Grable's career would be over and Monroe would shoot to super-stardom.

The story is a remake, though I haven't seen any of the previous versions. Three ladies decide to live together in a swank Manhattan apartment as they try to hook themselves wealthy husbands.

Grable's love interest is Fred Clark--a rich man with the disposition of a sour pickle. He is already married and really isn't interested in marriage--just making Grable his mistress. Her character is the ditsy one--naive and dumb and she fails to grasp how nasty Clark is.

Bacall is the most-pursued in the film--with an apparently poor guy (Cameron Mitchell) Grable met in a deli pursuing her as well as nice-guy William Powell. She is the supposedly smart one of the three but has a hard time reading men--even though the scheme is hers.

As for Monroe, she is sort of like a middle ground between her other two roommates. She's not as ditsy nor as bright as the other two. Despite her amazing looks, she isn't quite as ardently pursued as you'd expect in the film! Heck, I'd expect ALL the men in the film to chase after her! And, as for finding a millionaire, this shouldn't be a problem! One of her love interests in the film is the unlikely David Wayne and their scenes together are marvelous.

Despite all the girls' plans, things don't turn out in the end like any of them envisioned. They all get men who they really had no intention in getting...yet like a Hollywood film, everything works out wonderfully at the end. Along the way, the film is chock full of nice little vignettes and performances all due to good acting and a very agreeable script. I particularly liked the nice role played by William Powell--his graceful presence did a lot to add class to the film, though there were several other nice performances as well. Plus, everything just looked and sounded so nice--with the film being shot in CinemaScope and with lovely music throughout. It was obvious that 20th Century-Fox pulled out all the stops for this production. I'd give this one an 8 and it's well worth seeing.

By the way, read through the IMDb trivia for the film and you'll find one of the dumbest forced changes to a film of the era. The powers that be at the censor board would not allow Miss Monroe to say the old saying "men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses"--as it was apparently too racy or something else that is beyond me!! Huh?!?!