Howard Hawks was one of those directors who mostly directed classy drama's and screwball comedies, of which some are being regarded as classics these days. Seems odd for a director like that to venture into the bright, cheerful world of the musical movies but above all things "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" remains foremost a comedy that gets accompanied by some songs.
It honestly is not among the best genre movies I have ever seen but it is all good and fun enough. What I like most is that it seems that the male and female roles get reversed in this movie. This time it are the girls who are after the men. Its two main leads are female, so the movie gets entirely done from their viewpoint.
I was also surprised by the movie its prominently present sexual themes. For an 1953 this movie is being quite the sensual one. There is lots of sexual innuendo and at points in the movie the men get treated like sexual objects, as opposed to the female characters.
It was one of the first big movie roles for Marilyn Monroe, who of course brings a lot of sensuality to the movie. And yes, she perhaps wasn't the best actress that ever lived but she surely always knew how to handle comedy. She is a perfect 'stupid' blonde and in her singing sequences she also does a great job, though I can also understand why it was considered to dub her voice through this movie. She had a special sound that you need to get accustomed to at first but once you do you'll simply just love it.
The movie is nothing too special really but it also does very little wrong. Therefore this is a good and certainly watchable movie, that should entertain you throughout.
7/10
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