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Marilyn Monroe - The Final Days

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The very touching "Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days". Narrated by James Cobourn, it's an open and honest look at what took place in the last few months of Marilyn's life, and the problems she was having while filming her final film. It's practically a day by day, sometimes an hour by hour account of the events leading to Marilyn's death. Her many missed days on the set of due to poor health and assorted maladies, caused the cast and crew many problems. But..she was Marilyn, and the stars, her Doctors, Susan Strassberg,and others close to her during her last days speak about those very emotional days. Some of these interviews alone, are keepsakes from greats no longer with us. There is also never-before-seen footage and some wonderful scenes of Marilyn interacting with the children of the film. Other great footage, includes the famous Birthday party scene for President Kennedy, and the nude scenes she did in the pool for the film.

Immediately following the documentary there is an edited, reconstruction of the scenes shot for the film. This film, also starring Dean Martin, "Something's Got To Give", which was to be a remake of the Grant/Dunne film "My Favorite Wife", finally saw an audience as "Move Over Darling" with James Garner and Doris Day.

This is an absolute must for MM fans. It's a piece of cinematic history to be treasured. It may also be purchased as part ofMarilyn Monroe: Diamond Collection- a fabulous set.

it is also sold singley here:Marilyn Monroe - The Final Days-check for best deal and availability

The DVD runs nearly 2 hours in total.

Enjoy....Laurie
also recommended:
Some Like It Hot
Don't Bother to Knock [VHS]
(both also on DVD)

Outstanding DVD. A HUGE Marilyn fan I own every movie in which she appeared from the walk on in "Love Happy" to her final film "The Misfits" and always felt cheated there was no partical release of "Something's Got To Give". I purchased every 8x10 glossy from the production set I could find to fill the void. The wait is now over. Here in this DVD is a look into the production, interviews with the cast, writer and director, fantastic stills and costume takes. The narration is insightful and not judgemental. Best of all it includes a pieced together look from what available footage they had at what "Something's Got To Give" would have looked like had it ever made it to the screen. A real treat. This is a must have for any Monroe fan. She was over weight in her last two films and lost weight for this film and looked better than she had in years. A true must see. Marilyn at her very best!

I thought that this review was very interesting, honest, and even sad at times. I thought that the author did a great job with the writing. It didn't bring her down or anything and it wasn't negative. It seemed to portray her in a very honest open way. It was great to get to see "Something's Got to Give." This is a portion of the last film she would make because she died while filming it. It is an honor to own it and a great keepsake. They show a piece of the final cut of the movie at the end of this documentation. It runs about 45 minutes. It was very good. I enjoyed the whole thing. I was very pleased.

She never looked better. This exquisite, albeit flawed, beauty is beautifully portrayed in this attractive production. What a loss her untimely death was. I highly recommend this film to all MM fans.

After a long search, I finally found the vaulted footage of Marilyn Monroe's unfinished film. It was worth the wait. The film follows the original version (Irene Dunne and Cary Grant-1940) faithfully, so the story is familiar to viewers who know the story line of "My Favorite Wife."

This version never really gets to the end, however. Instead, after 35 minutes, this film has its own touching ending, and we all know what comes next for Monroe.

This movie needed to come out of the vault. It is a must have for Monroe fans, and for viewers who appreciate multiple movie versions of the same story. In this case, it's a great job of editing the material that was available into a cohesive story. Additional plus: the film comes after a good deal of footage/ commentary about what was happening in Monroe's life at the time, so there is a some context that makes watching the movie at the end wortwhile.

Marilyn Monroe: the Final Days (2001)
directed by Patty Ivins Specht

This is a documentary on the production of 'SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE', the unfinished film starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. This movie was a remake of the 1940 film 'MY FAVORITE WIFE' which starred Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The movie itself has a pretty funny story where a man believes that his first wife has died or disappeared so he gets remarried. When it turns out wife #1 is still around and comes back into his life, there are lots of awkward social situations.

By this time in her career, Marilyn was known for being extremely late to the set and also for demanding a lot of creative control over her characters- two things most directors won't put up with. This was especially true of George Cukor, the famous RKO director who was slated to direct Marilyn's movie because he owed the studio a favor. Marilyn's tardiness was a huge problem on 'SOMETHINGS GOT TO GIVE'- the only thing worse than her being late was when she didn't show up at all! But what was wrong with Marilyn at this time in her life? Several people are interviewed including her personal physician and some of her closest friends. The consensus seems to be that she felt nobody took her seriously as a actress. She was under the wing of dramatic acting coach Paula Strasberg and had attended husband Lee's prestigious "Actor's Studio" in efforts to flourish as a real talent. But she also became ill and was advised by not one but two physicians postpone production on her latest film. The studio was already way behind schedule and would lose a tremendous amount of money if the doctors' advice was followed. This escalated tensions between Cukor, Monroe and the film crew. When Marilyn was on the set, everyone loved the results, including the highly publicized swimming pool scene. But since the director never knew when Marilyn would show up, he had to "shoot around" her- meaning he shot every scene in the movie that she wasn't in. After these scenes were through, there was nothing left for Cukor to do. When Marilyn made her famous appearance at President Kennedy's b-day gala, Cukor was understandably angry. To her credit, Marilyn had told the studio about the gala before production on the movie had started, and if it were an isolated incident it could've been written off as a big misunderstanding. Unfortunately this was just one of many problems between the director and the starlet. Eventually Marilyn was fired (and replaced) which was no doubt devastating for her insecurities. She decided to pull herself together and generate positive publicity for herself. A sympathetic article featuring her side of the story and new photographs was published and this probably "humanized" her to the fans. The positive publicity must've worked because the studio negotiated to re-hire her and resume shooting on the movie. Tragically, Marilyn died of a drug overdose before the production started back up. 'SOMETHINGS GOT TO GIVE' was scrapped and a new version called 'MOVE OVER DARLING' was made in 1963 with Doris Day and James Garner in the lead roles.

Marilyn's early death has been discussed many times before. There is no question that she had a lifelong battle with depression and was using far too many pills. Her miscarriage and failed high profile marriages were also all over the papers which has to be extremely hard to deal with. But her life did seem to be back on track around the time of her passing. Does this mean she didn't kill herself? It is impossible to know and frankly I'm glad this movie doesn't focus too much on the issue. You will hear the opinions of people who knew her, including some of the last people to see her. But you will not hear any of the "toxic enema" theories or Kennedy-mafia secrets here- this movie is more memorial than speculation.

The last part of this documentary is an attempted reconstruction of 'SOMETHINGS GOT TO GIVE' using the existing footage and notes from the directors, producers, etc. This cut runs a little under 40 minutes. The movie is sort of strange to watch, especially after viewing the "making of" right before. Not to mention that Marilyn only showed up for about half the days of shooting. Watching the movie, you don't always think of the story or the characters being shown- you think of Marilyn and what she (and her peers) were going through. Its a melacholy moment where you can't really suspend disbelief enough to forget the story of the person who more than anyone has come to embody "tragic beauty".

Very well made and full of exclusive material. Essential for fans of Marilyn or 1960s Hollywood.

This product is pieced together from raw/restored footage, out-takes and the ending partial film is sprite, interesting and Monroe's powerful luminous presence is riveting and ethereal.
The commentary unfortunately tends to favor the negative side of the studio issues playing out. They fail to mention or down play that Monroe was the #1 female box office star of the past decade, that her films were keeping 20th Century Fox above water for the past several years and they were paying her approximately 200K due to a loop hole in her early contract. Yet Cleopatra was literally bankrupting Fox after almost 2 years in production and Taylor was receiving 1M for her film. This was the last film under Monroe's old contract, and it was a flimsy B film that she didn't want to do. Fox expected Monroe to complete & release the hit quickly, thus it would help finance the ballooning Cleopatra and the sinking Fox. Monroe resented these facts, the film and didn't want to make it, who could blame her? So she was "sick & tardy", they fired her, she made history again at Madison Square Garden (Happy Birthday Mr. President), her legal team countered, Dean Martin quit (he refused to work with anyone but Monroe as his contract stated), Fox quickly rehired her with a large raise...Dumb like a Fox.
It's of note to watch her out-takes when she sees her children for the first time in 5 years, her eyes reveal a range as large as the Alps that take you on a journey in seconds - many shades of pathos, yearning and love.
In film class at Yale they devoted a whole class to Marilyn, showing a series of clips with a multitude of famous dignitaries with her: Presidents, Queens, Kings, actors, opera stars, famous scholars, etc. and at the end the professor asked us to name any of the 17 dignitaries with Monroe, we could name only 4. Such is the power of her luminous presence. Monroe's flesh impact owns the screen like no other - even when someone else is talking your still watching her.
Was she the best actor, dancer or singer? No...then again she obviously didn't have to be.
Since her passing it's safe to say they'll be no one at this level of screen presence, close but sans the flesh impact that only she can deliver. They'll still be watching her 1500 years from now.

This DVD is wonderful! It's great to see the last work of Marilyn Monroe, in the edited and remastered film from her uncompleted movie "Something's Got to Give". It is a must have for any MM fan.

As an avid Marilyn fan, I had thought I'd seen it all, until this film!!! Actual interviews with people on set with her on "Something's Got to Give" and day-to-day schedules accounting right up until her death. Then at the end of the movie, they have pieced together the unfinished film and show it. You get hooked Immediately, and when it suddenly ends, it leaves you yearning for more!! This was going to be an amazing film to add to Marilyn's impressive list of movie credits. This film is a must for any Marilyn fan to own!!

I FOUND THIS DVD TO BE ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING AND A MUST FOR ALL THE MARILYN MONROE FANS AS IT GIVES YOU MORE OF AN INSIGHT TO THIS VERY TRAGIC ENDING OF A WOMAN WHO HAD THE POWER TO GAIN ANYTHING IN HER LIFE SHE WANTED ---EXCEPTING ONE THING THAT SHE NEEDED, AND THAT WAS PEACE OF MIND......I HAVE SEEN MANY DOCUMENTARIES ON MARILYN BUT THIS ONE WAS THE MOST COMPASSIONATE AND MOST UNDERSTANDING OF ALL......SOPHIE