Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Absolutely the worst movie.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Three beautiful women (Bacall, Grable, and Monroe) set up shop in a city apartment with intentions of marrying rich men. But love gets in the way.The comedic chops of the three actresses are really suited to the roles they play. And vibrant Technicolor makes this film even more visually appealing.The ever-enjoyable William Powell plays one well-to-do suitor with his usual panache, and becomes one of the highlights of the film. His part feels as though it were written for him.This light-hearted comedy about gold diggers could have had a cynical tone, but--thanks to its clever script--has a sweetness to it that is refreshing and uplifting.

Copyright 4 November 1953 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening simultaneously at the Globe and Loew's State: 10 November 1953. U.S. release: November 1953. London opening at Odeon Marble Arch. U.K. release: March 1954. Australian release: 21 January 1954. Sydney opening at the Plaza (ran 12 weeks at this 1,500 seat cinema, four sessions a day). 8,607 feet. 96 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Three attractive but impoverished gold-diggers set out to trap millionaire husbands. Two of them succeed, but more through good luck than calculated design.NOTES: "Loco" opened on Broadway at the Biltmore on 16 October 1946 and closed after only 37 performances due to extremely unfavorable reviews. Jean Parker (in her Broadway debut) played the model with a heart of gold and Jay Fassett the philandering businessman. These roles were played in the movie by Betty Grable and Fred Clark. The play was produced and directed by Jed Harris. On the other hand, "The Greeks Had a Word for It" was a reasonable success. The play opened on Broadway at the Harris on 25 September 1930 and ran 224 performances. Dorothy Hall, Muriel Kirkland and Verree Teasdale played the three gold-diggers, opposite Hardie Albright, Frederic Worlock and Ernest Glendinning. The play was produced and directed by William Harris, Jr. In 1932 producer Sam Goldwyn changed the title slightly to "The Greeks Had a Word for Them" and starred Ina Claire, Joan Blondell and Madge Evans in a movie directed by Lowell Sherman from a screenplay by Sidney Howard, no less. (Betty Grable had a minor role as a showgirl). This theme was then used countless times in the 30s, 40s and early 50s, most notably in the Gold-Digger series of musicals produced at Warner Brothers, Andrew Stone's "The Bachelor's Daughters" and in such Fox variations as "Three Blind Mice", "Moon Over Miami: and "Three Little Girls In Blue". Both Le Maire and Travilla were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Color Costumes, but lost out to Le Maire's own "The Robe" in which he collaborated with Emile Santiago. Fox's second CinemaScope feature. Negative cost: $2.5 million. Initial domestic rental gross: $7.3 million. U.K. rentals: $2.5 million. Australia: $1.7 million. Fox's top-grossing release worldwide for 1954. The title, "How To Marry a Millionaire" was purchased from Doris Lilly, author of a real-life guide to this subject, for the incredible sum of $50,000. Marilyn Monroe, Best Actress — Photoplay Gold Medal Award.COMMENT: "How To Marry a Millionaire" shows its age, but still holds up rather well. Naturally, it bends over backwards to embrace the novelty of CinemaScope. After a curtain-raiser with the 20th Century-Fox Symphony Orchestra designed to show off the process' stereophonic sound, CinemaScope takes us on a travelogue excursion to New York City. We also see and hear airplane propellers in close-up, we thrill to an airport landing, we travel by car across George Washington Bridge, by train to Maine, and share a buggy ride in the high snow country. There's also a fashion show. I mean when you have three lookers like Monroe, Grable and Bacall, why waste them? A pity though that there's so much dull talk and that Fox resisted what must have been an obvious temptation to turn the movie into a musical. Many musical opportunities are passed up. Maybe it was thought the picture already had enough going for it, though one could question that assumption. Aside from his spacious use of CinemaScope, with characters often neatly lined up across the whole expanse of the screen, Negulesco's direction is pretty routine. Although it's full of inside jokes, the script is not as clever or witty as Johnson and Negulesco obviously think it is. It's also hard to credit such plot devices as cold Bacall falling for a gauche, charmless eccentric like Cameron Mitchell — and preferring him to William Powell (whom it's always a pleasure to see, even when cast in such a thankless role as here). Mr. Calhoun is also a waste of time, but Bacall, Wayne, MM and Grable are a delight. Of course we see less of MM than her top billing gives us a right to expect. Stunningly costumed throughout, she plays with considerable flair and finesse, and displays a naive charm that is quite appealing. (Unlike some of MM's other directors, Negulesco permitted MM's dramatic coach, Natasha Lytess, to actually coach her on the set.)The color photography of course, as in all early CinemaScope productions, is quite grainy, but that technical deficiency is partly redeemed by that great Fox sound recording - best in the industry!

For me this film has soured quite a lot over the years, as I re-encounter the sexist messages that abounded during my formative years. The film presents a lot to enjoy, but the bitter kernel is that it fundamentally endorses attitudes it pretends to send up.Three girls follow a mission to find wealthy husbands, as no other object in life is worth considering. What they are interested in is wealth, clothes and jewellery. It appears that their only way of making money is as part-time models, and this is so inadequate in terms of paying rent and buying food that they sell off furniture that doesn't belong to them to make ends meet. They are bright and witty girls who these days could follow a range of different careers, but here they are never shown doing anything you could respect. They are just decorative parasites.The message to women is that your role in life is to be good looking and well-dressed, pretend to be better off than you are, and then you will trap a husband. The only amendment the story provides is that it might not turn out that your man is wealthy. With that small amendment, the life plan is unchanged.Young women do search for life partners, but hopefully these days a partner is just a partner and not a substitute for a career.I'd like to see a remake of this film where one girl is a lawyer, one a doctor and one a banker – and none of them planning to retire on marriage! Other than that, this is a good looking film in a 50s sort of way (even with the disadvantage of a small screen) and the personalities of the girls are lively and engaging.

Sometimes I'll watch a film like this and wonder if it would or could be made today. I saw this one on Turner Classics as one of the essentials, with host Robert Osborne and guest Drew Barrymore lending their comments on the picture. It was almost comical listening to Barrymore try to walk a fine line between enjoying the story and being careful not to antagonize her feminist side over the theme of gold digging women on the prowl to snag a rich husband. I wonder if she caught any grief over that one from Cameron Diaz.Like so many of these early to mid Fifties flicks, I find myself on the fence regarding their appeal. For me the story was so-so, largely predictable, and even though billed as a comedy, I didn't find myself in on the joke for the most part. Marilyn Monroe's eyesight gimmick was tiresome and didn't come across very believably, and Lauren Bacall, only a decade since debuting in "To Have and Have Not", seemed to be older than her real age of twenty nine. Betty Grable was obviously ready to pass the baton to her co-star Monroe as filmdom's next glamor queen. I don't know, maybe it's just me but I didn't detect the camaraderie among this trio and that took something out of it for this viewer.There was one good line though for this Bogart fan. I got the biggest kick out of Bacall's comment about the African Queen guy. Grable got one in on Harry James too, so that was all cleverly done. Over all I'm satisfied I got to catch this one since it's one of the early Fifties standards that everyone should catch, but now that I've done it I'll be happy to move on.