Product Description

Contains: *Don't Bother to Knock *Let's Make it Legal *Monkey Business *Niagra *River of No Return

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25869 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-20
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Running time: 476 minutes

From Amazon.com
Some essential examples of the Marilyn Monroe mystique make up this second collection of titles from MM's years at Twentieth Century Fox. After sparkling in small roles, she burst upon the public consciousness in 1952, thanks to five films and a certain nude calendar. Two of the 1952 pictures, showing very different sides of the new actress, are included here. One is Monkey Business, Howard Hawks's raucous comedy about a youth serum, in which top-lined stars Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers regress to a state of adolescent abandon, with Monroe doing spot-on supporting duty. Don't Bother to Knock gives Marilyn her first lead role, in a tense little film noir; she's a babysitter with an unstable streak, a fine performance hinting at depths rarely touched in her career.

In Niagara, Monroe is a full-fledged sex goddess, a scheming wife tormenting husband Joseph Cotten in their cabin by the falls. This Technicolor slice of pseudo-Hitchcock is a fun location picture with a genuinely exciting climax. Otto Preminger's River of No Return has Marilyn livened up by the presence of costar Robert Mitchum, in a strong outdoorsy Western that catches the two stars in appealing form. By the time of 1960's Let's Make Love, MM looks tired. This backstage musical is more interesting as a time capsule than as a romance, although one number shines: "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." Less urgent for Monroe fans than the first Diamond Collection, this set is still a good one for the die-hards. --Robert Horton

DVD Menu

• Side #1 -- Don't Bother to Knock
  • Play
  • Language Selection
    • Languages: English Stereo
    • Languages: English Mono
    • Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
    • Subtitles: Spanish
    • Subtitles: None
  • Scene Selection
  • Special Features
    • Theatrical Trailer
    • Let's Make Love
    • Monkey Business
    • Niagara
    • River of No Return
    • Diamond Collection Trailer
    • Restoration Comparison
    • Still Gallery
• Side #2 -- Let's Make Love
  • Play
  • Language Selection
    • Languages: English Dolby Surround
    • Languages: French Mono
    • Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
    • Subtitles: Spanish
    • Subtitles: None
  • Scene Selection
  • Special Features
    • Theatrical Trailer
    • Don't Bother to Knock
    • Monkey Business
    • Niagara
    • River of No Return
    • Diamond Collection Trailer
    • Restoration Comparison
    • Still Gallery
• Side #3 -- Monkey Business
  • Play
  • Language Selection
    • Languages: English Stereo
    • Languages: English Mono
    • Languages: French Mono
    • Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
    • Subtitles: Spanish
    • Subtitles: None
  • Scene Selection
  • Special Features
    • Theatrical Trailer
    • Let's Make Love
    • Don't Bother to Knock
    • Niagara
    • River of No Return
    • Diamond Collection Trailer
    • Restoration Comparison
    • Still Gallery
• Side #4 -- Niagara
  • Play
  • Language Selection
    • Languages: English Stereo
    • Languages: English Mono
    • Languages: French Mono
    • Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
    • Subtitles: Spanish
    • Subtitles: None
  • Scene Selection
  • Special Features
    • Theatrical Trailer
    • Let's Make Love
    • Don't Bother to Knock
    • Monkey Business
    • River of No Return
    • Diamond Collection Trailer
    • Restoration Comparison
    • Still Gallery
• Side #5 -- River of No Return
  • Play
  • Language Selection
    • Languages: English 4.0 Dolby Surround
    • Languages: French Stereo
    • Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired
    • Subtitles: Spanish
    • Subtitles: None
  • Scene Selection
  • Special Features
    • Theatrical Trailer
    • Let's Make Love
    • Don't Bother to Knock
    • Monkey Business
    • Niagara
    • Diamond Collection Trailer
    • Restoration Comparison
    • Still Gallery

DVD Chapters
Side #1 -- Don't Bother to Knock
1. Main Titles
2. The McKinley Hotel
3. Eddie's Niece
4. The Elevator
5. Bunny's Bedtime
6. The Old Blank Wall
7. A Lull in My Life
8. The Cold Outside of Things
9. The Girl in 809
10. Impulses
11. Face-to-Face
12. A Gal With Variations
13. On the Edge
14. Silk and Sandpaper
15. Restless
16. Everybody Interferes
17. What's Going On?
18. Trouble in 809
19. Suicide Blonde
20. A Man Who Cares
Side #2 -- Let's Make Love
1. Main Titles
2. The Clement Dynasty
3. The Current Clement
4. Thin-Skinned
5. My Heart Belongs to Daddy
6. A Perfect Resemblance
7. Tony Danton
8. A New Joke
9. Hey You With the Crazy Eyes
10. No Laughing Matter
11. A Special Offer
12. Going Uptown
13. Rich People Aren't People
14. The New Investor
15. Specialization
16. Professional Help
17. A Fresh New Comedian
18. Money Matters
19. Let's Make Love
20. The Singing Coach
21. Dancing Lessons
22. A Song for Dumas
23. Tony's Chance
24. Matters of Trust
25. Out of Character
26. Incurably Romantic
27. Meet Mr. Clement
28. Let's Make Love (Reprise)
Side #3 -- Monkey Business
1. Main Titles
2. An Absent-Minded Chemist
3. Genius at Work
4. At Oxly Chemical
5. A New Formula
6. Self-Experimentation
7. A New Look
8. Back to Normal
9. Edwina Volunteers
10. At the Pickwick Arms
11. The Press
12. Funny-Tasting Coffee
13. Paint Fight
14. Red Eagle
15. Barnaby?
16. Playing May-Pole
17. This Is Barnaby!
18. Who Are You?
19. The Monkey Mix
20. A Formula for Life
Side #4 -- Niagara
1. Main Titles
2. Five in the Morning
3. Mr. & Mrs. Cutler
4. A Problem With Cabin B
5. A Tour of the Falls
6. A Secret in the Mist
7. Rose's Song
8. Open Wounds
9. A Date
10. George's Jealousy
11. Following Rose
12. Worried About George
13. The Body
14. Trouble in Cabin B
15. Who Killed Whom?
16. That Song...
17. Where's Mrs. Loomis?
18. Woman on the Run
19. Death in the Tower
20. Looking for Loomis
21. Polly's Peril
22. Into the Drift
23. Brink of Disaster
24. An Answered Prayer
Side #5 -- River of No Return
1. Main Titles
2. Looking for My Son
3. One Silver Dollar
4. Calder and Son
5. Kay
6. I'm Gonna File My Claim
7. Harry's Claim
8. The Calder Home
9. Trouble on the River
10. Skin Deep
11. Down in the Meadow
12. A Gun and a Horse
13. Time to Leave
14. Rapids
15. Looking for Food
16. Going After Harry
17. Matt's Secret
18. Point of No Return
19. The Cave
20. Kay's Apology
21. Food
22. Laws
23. Not So Tough
24. Benson and Colby
25. Getting Someplace
26. Indians
27. Rough Waters
28. Council City
29. Kay's Plea
30. No Other Way
31. The River of No Return
32. Going Home

Customer Reviews

More diamonds? More like the Rhinestone Collection
Still using the analogies that MM's five movies from the Diamond Collection were jewels, the five movies in the second collection are definitely not that crystalline allotrope of carbon by any means. Fake jewelry maybe. And to twist a line from "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," I do mean rhinestones.

Don't Bother To Knock: As disturbed babysitter Nell, MM's dramatic talents come into play. Nell is a timid soul who has led by a bad life. When lonely pilot Jed Towers comes in for a drink, she mistakes him for the love who was lost in war. Things fall apart when her charge interrupts their kiss and a psychotic desire for revenge on the little girl begins. The best movie in this collection, with MM giving a performance other than a buxom blonde or secretary. (Rating: 3)

Let's Make Love: MM is Amanda Dell, a stage actress in a revue designed to spoof billionaire Jean-Marc Clement, who falls in love with her and pretends to be a Clement impersonator. Amanda is the most sympathetic character in this cockle-doodle-doo of a movie. A tepid script, dialogue, characters, and a waste of talent sink this movie, which is among the worst of her career. Her acting, well, that's different. (Rating: 2)

Monkey Business: MM is secretary Lois Laurel at Oxley Chemicals, where a chimp's formula for youth makes immature goons out of chemist Barnaby Fulton and his wife Edwina. This look at the nostalgia of regaining one's youth could've been better. A thankless role of MM, who barely comes out at all, and ends up having rubber bands shot at her rear end. (Rating: 3)

Niagara: The beauty of Niagara Falls nearly takes center stage if not for a certain wiggling blonde in a hot pink dress who sizzles as her favourite record is playing. The adulterous Rose Loomis (MM) plots to kill her neurotic husband George with the help of her lover, but things go wrong. Involved in this picture are a nice honeymooning couple, the Cutlers. MM's infamous undulating walk debuted here. (Rating: 3).

River Of No Return: What do you say about a Grade-Z western where Marilyn wins out over the scenery and script? As less as possible. Seriously though, MM plays Kay, a saloon singer and girlfriend of a gambler Harry Weston who in a desperate hurry to file a gold claim, steals the horse of recently released ex-con Matt Calder. Matt, his son Mark, and Kay brave the raging white river, bandits, and Indians. Matt is determined to kill Harry, and Kay is determined to stop him, but along the way, realizes how kind and unselfish Matt is. (Rating: 3).

They should've stopped at the first Diamond Collection and released this as videos without being part of another collection.
Overall rating: 3.

" Bonus Features" disappointing
Although I give 5 stars for the quality and presentation of the main features, I was very disappointed in the Bonus Features (or lack of). Unlike the Diamond Collection 1, this collection has no Movietone newsreels (there's an excellent one on the Marilyn Collection VHS of "Let's Make Love"), there are no documentaries or deleted scenes like on the "Seven Year Itch" DVD, and a black and white(!!!) copy of the theatrical trailer to "Niagra" (even though there is an excellent colour copy on the VHS-Marilyn Collection. I get the feeling this collection was put together in a rush and not much time put into research to come up with some interesting things hidden in the vaults (also, where is the soundtrack to this collection like the excellent one that was put together for the last collection?). All and all, I still really enjoy seeing this collection, especially the wide screen versions of some of the movies ("River of No Return" was a treat as this was the first time I could see some scenes where Marilyn had been completly cut out with the "pan/scan" technique used on previous VHS tapes. An exciting joy to watch and see a great screen presence.

Worth the price of admission
Another beautifully restored tribute to one of the biggest stars of all time. (If you don't own the first diamond collection, get it.)

The best film of this package is "Don't bother to knock." It shows a different side to Marilyn, the one rarely seen. Usually typecast as the "chipper, dumb blonde," Marilyn shows off her dramatic talent in this dark film. She's more than a pretty face. She showcases her acting ability to the point where she is completely unrecognizable from her other films.

She'll blow you away with her comedic performance in "let's make love," and leave you mystified in the beautifully filmed "Niagara." I'm not a big western fan, but still found "River of no return" to be quite entertaining. "Monkey business" was my least favorite of the package, but that had more to do with the casting error of Cary Grant. He didn't suit his character, at least not to me.

Overall, a very entertaining movie set, much like the first. But "Don't bother to knock," offers the biggest bang for your buck. She'll mesmerize you with the best things about her: her talent and her mind.

After all, it takes more than a pretty face for a girl to coin the phrase, "I'm like this entire superstructure with absolutely no foundation. But I'm working on the foundation."