Something's Got to Give

There aren't many films that have such a famous scene. Surely you remember that film where Marilyn Monroe swims naked in a swimming pool. Sure you do,... it had Dean Martin in it, right? For some reason, you just cannot seem to remember the plot, though. But that scene got a lot of press coverage and is just as famous as the blowing skirt in "The Seven Year Itch".

And yet... there never was a film. At least not one that was ever completed. After the United Artists film The Misfits, shot in black and white by John Huston, 20th Century Fox who had the actress under contract felt that she should do another one of her successful Cinemascope Deluxe Color comedies. So an old script produced in 1940 as My Favorite Wife (starring Irenne Dunne and Cary Grant) was dug up and revamped for Marilyn to star in. The film was to be called Something's Got to Give and her co-star were Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. George Cukor agreed to direct in spite of the problems he encountered with the temperamental star.

Marilyn had been a little plump in her last Fox movie Let's Make Love, but she went on a diet and came back in tip top shape for her makeup and costume test.

Some scenes were shot, among which the famous swimming pool scene. Precious time was lost shooting the same scenes endlessly with children or with a dog. And Marilyn's lack of sleep sometimes prevented her from shooting close-ups.

Unfortunately, Marilyn fell ill and George Cukor started shooting around her, until all the scenes that did not include her were in the can. The studio finally fired the actress. When her co-star would not work with anybody else and for various other obvious reasons, Marilyn was re-hired, but her subsequent death sealed the fate of the film.

However it still had a future. For 20th Century Fox, the first move was to use the script, some of the sets and start a new production with a completely different cast. They threw in a song and adapted the scenario to their new star: Doris Day. The result was Move Over Darling. A far less appealing title but a decent film nonetheless.

And then what? Several documentaries about Marilyn Monroe used the same footage over and over. Until a DVD of the documentary The Final Days came out. At the end of it was an attempt to edit all the scenes shot that could fit in a result that could make sense.

You can get a glimpse of what the film would have been, but the main attraction is missing from most of it. The comedy would probably have been in the line of Let's Make Love, but as shallow as Marilyn's role appears, it would have been a very definite turn in her career: never before had she played a mother.
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That's all for today folks!