Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 23874 DVD
• Running time: 11 films’ worth
• Year: several
• Pressing: 2002
• Region(s): 2, 4, PAL
• Chapters: too many to mention
• Sound: Mono and Stereo
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: varies
• Widescreen: varies
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: 11 * DVD 9
• Price: £79.99
• Extras: Breakdown supplied below per disc.

Director/Producer of “The Final Days”:

Patty Ivans

Written by:

Cast:

Marilyn Monroe, and interviews with Steve Allen, Cyd Charisse, Evelyn Moriarty, plus archive footage of Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, George Cukor, Joe DiMaggio, Dean Martin, Arthur Miller

Released exactly forty years after her death, Marilyn Monroe, aka Norma Jean Mortensen, died on August 5th, 1962 of a drug overdose in Los Angeles, California, the same city in which she was born. Brought into the world on June 1st, 1926, this woman who went on to become a screen legend only lived to be 36.

Five years ago, another blonde woman also died at the age of just over 36 and she couldn’t keep her name out of the papers either. Coincidence? Let the conspiracy theorists worry about that one.

Marilyn Monroe starred in thirty films including her final flick, the rather aptly-named Something’s Got to Give, also featuring Cyd Charisse and Dean Martin. The movie was never finished because the main star of the lightweight comedy was fired after eight weeks on-set. Two months later, her body was found.

The documentary DVD in this set, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days, runs for nearly two hours, is narrated by James Coburn and does exactly what it says on the tin, as well as taking a look behind the scenes of her last film and after nearly four decades of languishing in Fox’s vaults, over 500 minutes of unedited footage were last year honed down into a 37-minute montage and is presented in in letterboxed 2.35:1 widescreen. Anyone looking to skip straight to this film should go to chapter 13 on the disc.

Also included in this 11-disc set are ten of Marilyn Monroe’s best movies: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Bus Stop (1956), How To Marry A Millionaire (1953), There’s No Business Like Showbusiness (1954), Don’t Bother To Knock (1952), Let’s Make Love (1960), Monkey Business (1952), Niagara (1953), River Of No Return (1954) and The Seven Year Itch (1955).

The DVD boxset

In terms of presentation, note that Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Don’t Bother to Knock, Monkey Business, Niagra and Marilyn Monroe – The Final Days are in their original 4:3 ratio, while the rest are in their original anamorphic cinemascope ratio (all 2.55:1, except There’s No Business… and Let’s Make Love which are 2.35:1). Most of these are in mono and the sound is clear enough, but then these aren’t special FX-laden movies.

The extras on each disc aren’t copious, but are as follows:

• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Trailer. Movietone news. Restoration comparison. Stills gallery.
• There’s No Business Like Show Business: 3 trailers. Restoration comparison.
• Let’s Make Love: Trailer. Restoration comparison. Stills gallery.
• How To Marry A Millionaire: 3 trailers. Restoration comparison.
• Bus Stop: Trailer. Restoration comparison. Stills gallery.
• Niagra: Trailer.
• River Of No Return: Trailer.
• Don’t Bother To Knock: Trailer. Restoration comparison. Stills gallery.
• Monkey Business: Trailer. Restoration comparison. Stills gallery.
• The Seven Year Itch – Special Edition: Documentary: ‘Backstory: The Seven Year Itch’ (20 min). 2 deleted scenes. 2 trailers. Movietone news: Sneak Preview. Restoration comparison. Stills.
• Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days: Movietone news: Cinemascope.

The DVD boxset, again

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL