How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)
Zoe Akins (plays) ...

Release Date:

5 November 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Most Glamorous Entertainment Of Your Lifetime in CinemaScope. You See It Without Glasses!

Plot:

Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Millionaire | Money | Model | Bachelor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Betty Grable	...	Loco Dempsey
Marilyn Monroe	...	Pola Debevoise
Lauren Bacall	...	Schatze Page
David Wayne	...	Freddie Denmark
Rory Calhoun	...	Eben
Cameron Mitchell	...	Tom Brookman
Alexander D'Arcy	...	J. Stewart Merrill (as Alex D'Arcy)
Fred Clark	...	Waldo Brewster
William Powell	...	J.D. Hanley

Also Known As:

Comment épouser un millionnaire (Belgium: French title) (France) (dubbed version) [fr]
Wie angelt man sich einen Millionär (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Cómo casarse con un millonario (Spain) [es]
Come sposare un milionario (Italy) [it]
Como Agarrar um Milionário (Brazil) [pt]
Hoe men een millionnair huwt (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Hur man får en miljonär (Sweden) [sv]
Jak poslubic milionera (Poland) [pl]
Kuinka miljonääri naidaan (Finland) [fi]
Milyoner avcilari (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Pos na pantrefthite enan ekatymmyriouho (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Pos na pantreftite ekatommyriouho (Greece) [el]
Tre piger søger en millionær (Denmark) [da]

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

France:U | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #16443) | Canada:G (video rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | West Germany:12 | Norway:7

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The on-screen orchestra at the beginning plays music that was composed by Alfred Newman for the 1931 film Street Scene (1931). The music was also used in 20th Century-Fox's I Wake Up Screaming (1941), also with Betty Grable, and in Gentleman's Agreement (1947).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Schatze is walking up and down on the roof her shadow isn't matching the shadows on the buildings behind - her shadow falls the opposite way due to the lighting not matching the supposed position of the sun.

Quotes:

Schatze Page: We'd better put a check on that one. Nobody's mother lives in Atlantic City on Saturday.

Movie Connections:

References Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Soundtrack:

Street Scene

'Keep the change, Mac.'

Three models (Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall) pool their resources to rent an expensive penthouse apartment in New York, each girl hoping to catch a wealthy husband...

Cameron Mitchell helps Betty Grable with groceries one morning and meets and falls in love with Bacall… But she rejects him, thinking he is a 'gas pump jockey.'

The girls are nearly broke when Grable introduces them to an oil tycoon, a widower (William Powell) who becomes interested in Bacall… Grable takes a trip with wealthy and married Fred Clark, under the impression that they are going to a convention in Maine… Once at his lodge, she realizes they will be alone and is set to return to New York when she suddenly felt sick… A forest ranger named Rory Calhoun comes into her life, and they fall in love…

Marilyn leaves by plane to meet her one-eyed playboy Alex D'Arcy in Atlantic City, but because she refuses to wear glasses in public to correct her nearsightedness, she gets on the wrong plane… On board she meets David Wayne, the owner of their penthouse apartment, who is on his way to Kansas City to find his tax accountant because of whom he is in trouble with the revenue department…

Bacall, left alone and without money, agrees to marry the oilman Powell…

"How to be a Millionaire" was the second CinemaScope film ever made, the first being "The Robe." The film marked David Wayne's last movie appearance with Marilyn… He made four pictures with her, more than any other actor…