French billionaire playboy Yves Montand (as Jean-Marc Clement) sees voluptuous blonde Marilyn Monroe (as Amanda Dell) rehearsing a "Let's Make Love" song off-Broadway and wants to offer a very affirmative response. Mistaken for an actor, Mr. Montand decides to go along with the ruse and try out for the play. He wants to get close to Ms. Monroe, who isn't impressed with money and correctly realizes "Alexander Dumas" is a noted author. Monroe's co-star and lover Frankie Vaughn (as Tony Danton) falls off the wagon with worry. Public relations man Tony Randall (as Coffman) plays his usual supporting role...

On the set, Marilyn cooperated with director George Cukor and other cast members -- agreeable behavior that was in stark contrast to her conduct on her last two productions. It is likely that Marilyn was emulating Montand's professionalism, a quality she admired in him. Vitacco-Robles, Gary (2014). Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe Volume 2 1956 TO 1962 & Beyond. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593937751. Despite the real-life sparks generated by the Monroe-Montand liaison, Let's Make Love is a distinctly unengaging musical comedy and remains Marilyn's weakest starring vehicle. Whether the two stars began their love affair at this time, or whether it had developed earlier, is unknown. Montand has always claimed that Marilyn was the aggressor; if so, he did little to discourage her.Since I am watching all Marilyn's movies, ''Let's Make Love'' was the second one from the collection to be watched. Marilyn is beautiful as usual, and we have Cameos from Gene Kelly,Bing Crosby and Milton Berle as themselves. Marilyn does look very comfortable and relaxed on the screen. But, at times she appears distracted.(Probably George Cukors uneven direction) There is something a little charming about the whole production. The musical score will grow on you and "Incurably Romantic" is very well done. This film was nominated for an Oscar for best musical score. I also loved the fantasy sequence with Yves and MM in the board room on the table where she is knitting with gold yarn. She even makes that chore look sexy!

Let's Make Love, the next to last film of Marilyn Monroe is a harmless piece of fluff, rather lazily directed by George Cukor. Marilyn was her usual temperamental self during the filming and I think Cukor decided to just let it slide. She also began to alienate herself from many of her New York friends and acquaintances. On a more positive note, her drug intake decreased as she stopped sedating herself during the day -- at least on some days. There is plenty to work against the film: Cukor's almost non-existent direction, the rather dreadful musical numbers, Yves Montand's irritating performance and the wasted opportunities of the star cameos. Miller despised the idea of rewriting a trivial film script, particularly one he described as "not worth the paper it was typed on." Still, he tried to tailor Marilyn's role to her talents and image.

A lot of talented people were involved in the making of this and it seems a colossal waste of time. Marilyn and Montand and British pop star Frankie Vaughan had some nice numbers to sing. SYNOPSIS: Monroe's 28th picture was supposed to be a satire of Howard Hughes entitled "The Billionaire", but Fox's lawyers must have advised no-no, and it became instead a sort of later version of "On the Avenue", made in 1937 by the same studio. Montand is cast as a billionaire industrialist who is told by his attorney, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and his public relations man, Tony Randall, that an off-Broadway satire aimed right at him, has not only been planned, but is now actually in rehearsal. So Montand and Randall go to the theater and actually discover our Marilyn rehearsing "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" (This particular rendition must rate as one of her very best singing attempts ever). Anyway, the show has not yet engaged anyone to play Montand. Therefore the stage director assumes that the real Montand is actually an actor who has come to audition for the part. Needless to say, the real Montand is hired instantly. — Adapted from a resume in the Motion Picture Guide. Billionaire Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand) is the result of a family fortune cultivated over generations. His PR guy Alexander Coffman (Tony Randall) tells him about an unflattering portrayal of him in a Broadway start-up and he decides to go see for himself. He is taken with leading lady Amanda Dell (Marilyn Monroe) as she performs a sexy number. When he's mistaken for an actor auditioning for the role of Clement, he decides to take the part as Alexandre Dumas while trying to woo the beauty. Dallingercaught Marilyn Monroe and actor YvesMontandat the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1960 during filming of Let's Make Love, co-written by Monroe's then-husband, Arthur Miller.

Miller noticed that Marilyn's moods began to shift quite rapidly during this period. Though she seemed to accept the tragedy of her most recent miscarriage, she was not altogether happy with married life. Often, her disappointment took the form of vindictiveness or obvious disrespect toward her husband.Montand and his wife, actress Simone Signoret, greatly admired Arthur Miller and shared certain political beliefs with him. The couple had even appeared in the French film version of Miller's The Crucible, which had been adapted by Jean-Paul Sartre.

Let's Make Love perks up only in isolated moments, most notably in Marilyn's lively "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" number. Let's Make Love received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Score for Lionel Newman and Earle H. Hagen and two BAFTA nominations for Best Film from any Source for George Cukor and for Best Foreign Actor (Montand). It also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture Musical. [12] Monroe at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1960 during the filming of Let's Make Love, co-written by Monroe's then-husband, Arthur Miller.The new PR man Coffman (Tony Randall) has been hired to keep his tycoon boss, the seventh generation French billionaire Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand), out of the news. Coffman reports to his immediate boss, business manager John Wales (Wilfred Hyde-White), that he read in Variety a new off-Broadway musical is opening that is spoofing a number of celebrities such as Elvis, Maria Callas, and the thin-skinned publicity shy womanizing bachelor Jean-Marc Clement. To see if they can soften the show’s parody and show that Clement has a sense of humor, Coffman takes Clement unannounced to a rehearsal of the show. As soon as Clement sees the busty Amanda (Marilyn Monroe), he decides he wants her in the same authoritarian way he’s accustomed to always getting what he wants–as he believes people respect and obey him for his money. He’s mistaken by the casting director and everyone else at the show, including Amanda, for a Clement look-alike, as they assume he’s trying out for the part. When he sees Amanda can’t stand the snobby Clement and is not driven to meet a wealthy man, he pretends to be an out-of-work actor trying out for that part. It’s hard to believe no one in a show lampooning Clement would recognize him, but there you have the lame plot and might as well except it for the sake of the film. He's simply bland with a capital B and very unfunny. And when MILTON BERLE, GENE KELLY and BING CROSBY attempt to give him pointers on how to be an entertainer, they're impatience with him is understandable. Whatever magic Montand had in his homeland is obscured here by a witless script and poor direction from George Cukor, who even manages to make Marilyn look less than believable as a wistful showgirl. Intending to stop production, Clement appears at a casting call for the play, where he is immediately smitten by the character played by Marilyn, a singer-dancer named Amanda Dell. Not realizing Clement's true identity, the director hires the billionaire to play himself in the show.