bmbdsm Growing up, I never really knew enough about Marilyn Monroe. I saw parts of "The Seven Year Itch" on TV as a little kid, and I later saw "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Some Like It Hot" and liked them, but that was my extent of Monroe knowledge. Then, one day in college, bored out of my mind, I randomly decided to look up this documentary on YouTube. I was instantly intrigued. This caused me to realize that there was more to the beautiful woman who graced movie screens with her presence than meets the eye; it also caused me to become a fan."The Final Days" takes a look at the troubled production of Marilyn's last work in front of a movie camera, the romantic comedy "Something's Got to Give." From interviews from those who knew Marilyn and from those who worked on the production, it presents a day-to-day account of "Give"'s making. The most fascinating aspect of this piece to me was the footage from "Give." This documentary concludes with a reconstruction of the film from the available footage, beautifully restored and edited together, and surprisingly easy to follow, despite the fact that the film was never finished. The interviews present a balanced account of what went wrong behind the scenes and with Marilyn during this time (screenwriter Walter Bernstein's comments are extremely negative and annoyed me greatly). Despite that minor caveat, I enjoyed this look at a person who is deservedly famous and talented. Marilyn Monroe is a star. A legend. An icon. And above all... utterly human. Marilyn, we love you.

bobvend The events surrounding the sad, trouble-plagued 1962 production of Marilyn Monroe's last (and unfinished) film "Something's Got To Give" are covered in this thoughtful and reasonably balanced documentary. Regardless of whether or not the viewer is a Monroe fan- or is particularly interested in Hollywood lore- there's an undeniable pull to this offering, not unlike the interest one would experience upon learning of unearthed, previously unknown recordings by a favorite long-deceased singer. This is a rare all-too-brief glimpse of what might have been.No one denies Monroe was a troubled individual and a difficult actress, and the frustrations of working with her were academic long before she signed to do this film. 20th Century Fox, her home studio for which she was making the film, and the film's reluctant director George Cukor, knew all too well what to expect (and what not to expect) from her. The documentary does a good job of detailing the dire financial situation Fox was in at the time, and how this served to put undue pressure on the production. Almost bankrupt due to the huge cost overruns and delays on their colossal epic "Cleopatra" (in it's third year of production by '62), the studio desperately needed a hit, and they needed it fast. But "Something's Got To Give" wouldn't be it.The basis for this documentary stems from the painstaking restoration of the long-forgotten reels from the film that narrator James Coburn states totaled nine hours of footage. An edited "reconstruction" of "Something's Got To Give" comprises the final part of this feature, which is also its most sadly poignant. We settle into watch what amounts to a typical piece of early-1960's harmless fluff, at times clever and witty with some good comic chops. Aside from a scene where Dean Martin's character seems surprisingly unsurprised to see his "dead" wife (indicating the absence of an earlier scene), the film moves along fairly smoothly. Lulled (as I was) into thinking that nine hours of footage is certainly enough from which to extract a coherent complete film, everything suddenly comes to an unexpected end as an off-camera Cukor says "cut!", and all too soon, there's nothing more to see. The film's reconstruction runs for only about 37 minutes, despite the fact that practically all scenes where Monroe's presence wasn't required made it onto film, as the studio worked around her frequent absences. But having continued the reconstructed film without crucial missing scenes involving Monroe would have been somewhat pointless. Fox would remake the movie with a different cast in 1963, entitled "Move Over, Darling" which would give the viewer a reasonable idea of what "Something..." might have looked like had it ever reached the screen. What precious little usable footage we saw of Monroe in the first segments of this feature is apparently all there was. This is part of what makes "Marilyn- The Final Days" so oddly compelling.

Lechuguilla Archival footage and contemporary interviews provide a glimpse into the final six months of the life of Marilyn Monroe. The documentary spans the time from February, 1962, until her death in August, 1962, using benchmark dates, usually associated with the film she was making at the time: "Something's Got To Give". The film was never finished.Interviews include Producer David Brown, Associate Producer Gene Allen, Producer Henry Weinstein, Writer Walter Bernstein, and actress Cyd Charisse. Throughout the documentary, Marilyn comes across as physically lovely, playful, emotionally insecure, a tad irresponsible, temperamental, eager to learn, vulnerable, and dependent on sleeping pills.One segment has B&W footage of her as she shows up tardy at the May 19th birthday celebration of then President John Kennedy, just weeks before she died. When she finally appears on-stage, host Peter Lawford introduces her to the audience: "Mr. President, the late Marilyn Monroe".The Monroe documentary runs about 77 minutes. The remainder of the film consists of pasted-together excerpts of what exists of "Something's Got To Give". It runs about 35 minutes.The quality of the documentary is quite good, what there is of it. But I didn't really learn anything new. Some brief mention, at least, could have been made of all the conspiracy theories surrounding her death. They were not included.Overall, this is an acceptable film, especially for anyone unfamiliar with Monroe's history. But it is a tad superficial. And I could have wished for more in-depth analysis.

Emchick A magnificent documentary that shows the last days of Hollywood's greatest actress. That also shows rare footage of 9 hours of Marilyn's last movie, Something's Got To Give, that AMC had restored and edited to 37 minutes showing what could have been.Most scenes didn't have her in them, because of her absent days during filming, that lead Fox to have her fired from the film. But because of Dean Martin's contract, (saying that he wouldn't be in it if Marilyn wasn't) Fox signed her back on. Sadly, the movie was never finished, due to Marilyn's tragic death. (Suicide, I think NOT!)Still, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days is a beautifully pieced program that tells the ending of Marilyn Monroe's life, but there is no ending to Marilyn's legacy and the memory of her. Marilyn Monroe 1926-1962