Miss Scarlett

Dear Readers,
New feature! Hopefully one that will last. One of my passions in life is film, especially those of the Golden Age of movies, and thought I'd discuss the ones I have seen.
Bus Stop, (Joshua Logan, 1956) the first film to be made with Marilyn Monroe Productions is the coming-of-age story of naive cowboy Bo Decker (Don Murray) who falls for the not so naive "Cherry" Cherie, (Marilyn Monroe) a young girl, trying to make a name for herself in show business, and despite Cherie's protests is determined to marry her.

As far as story goes, I think it was trying to be something it's not. The entire plot seems ridiculous, especially Bo's motives for what he does, as no person in their right mind would do some of the things he does in this film. Now I'm a person who does enjoy a piece of melodrama every once in a while, but it really didn't work opposite the complex Cherie. I assume that the supposed "comedy" element of the film was from Bo, but Murray's performance stuck out like a sore thumb causing me to laugh at him rather than with him. I understand that Murray had to work with the hideous 2D cartoon cowboy that was written for him to play, but come on! How did he ever get nominated for an Oscar!?

Many other characters were equally two dimensional and dull, using various stereotypes, such as the wise-cracking waitress, the sympathetic friend, the firm but fair father figure, none of whom had any sort of depth, and hang around the place like cardboard cutouts.

The only real redeeming thing about this film is Marilyn. After working with the Actor's Studio in New York for a year Marilyn plays Cherie as quite ditzy and fun-loving, yet internally strong but vulnerable all at the same time. Again, because of such a poor script Marilyn's performance is not as stellar as her others, but she does a decent job, and was praised by many critics of the time. Her accent was a little off at times, but overall, she gave Cherie a lot of heart and warmth.

The real problem with this film is that it just cant decide whether it's a comedy or not. If it was, it should have used the same style of comedy used for Bo for all the characters, and perhaps the story could have been excusable. If it wasn't, Bo's performance should have been toned down, and all the others toned up and given flesh on their bones.

Overall, a poor movie. I think Marilyn fans who want to know more about her production company or this point of her life would find it a valuable resource on Marilyn's developments as an actress. Those viewing just for pleasure, give this one a miss.

Ciao!
Miss Scarlett x


Picture taken from Prop Catalogs

Labels: Bus Stop, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Vintage