Get Starting Point

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.

“Marilyn Monroe; Pulling Beads” by Bert Stern. From the portfolio “The Last Sitting” 1962.

Of course, her persona was too big for just those movies. But they are some of her most interesting performances, ones that are overshadowed by the flashier moments of dresses flying up over subway grates and the enduring female friendship with diamonds.

That’s why it’s easy to forget that, whether the role was flashy or dramatic, Monroe worked with some of the most legendary directors of the old school Hollywood studio system. Joe Mankiewicz cast her in a small role in my all-time favorite movie, “All About Eve.” That same year, John Huston cast her in an equally memorable — and completely different — small part in “The Asphalt Jungle.” He’d work with her twice, as would Howard Hawks. Though they allegedly drove each other crazy, Billy Wilder also worked with her twice.

Marilyn Monroe (center background) in “All About Eve” with Anne Baxter (left foreground), Bette Davis (right foreground), and (background) Gary Merrill, Celeste Holm, George Sanders, and Hugh Marlowe.Photofest

In these, and other movies, Monroe also held her own opposite some of the strongest actors in Hollywood. She acted opposite Barbara Stanwyck, Joseph Cotten, Robert Ryan, Jack Lemmon, Richard Widmark, and Clark Gable, just to name a few. None of them are slouches in the acting department.

To honor Marilyn Monroe, the actor, I’ve broken this notebook into two categories, starting with:

Marilyn Monroe as … the film noir favorite

When did Marilyn Monroe become “Marilyn Monroe”? Some would say “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” in 1953. That was the 20th movie that she appeared in. I believe it was the Twentieth Century-Fox movie she made before that one, 1953’s “Niagara” that really created her image. It was the first time viewers got to see her in color, which must have been a real shock to the system. Her blonde hair and bright red lipstick popped in Technicolor, as did the film’s famous hot pink dress. Fox had been promoting Monroe as a bombshell, and now here she was in living color blowing up the screen.

But this Marilyn Monroe is a bad, bad girl — a femme fatale of the highest order. The actor knows exactly how to make her image look lovely but lethal. The noir gods smite her character earlier in the film than usually happens to the femme fatale, but before they do, Monroe plays a scene that I originally misinterpreted as bad acting. The gist of the plot is that Monroe’s Rose wants her lover to murder her older husband, George (Joseph Cotten), and toss his body off Niagara Falls. She’ll know the crime has been committed when the bell tower plays her favorite song, “Kiss.” (Not the Prince song, though that would have been awesome.)

Monroe wears a worried concern on her face until those bells start ringing. All of a sudden, her entire countenance changes. As she slinks off camera, she breaks out into a broad smile. After a second viewing, I realized just how good that acting choice was. Even better is her reaction when she discovers that George threw her lover off Niagara Falls instead when she goes to view the body. Oops!

Co-written by Billy Wilder’s old partner, Charles Brackett, “Niagara” may have been the first time Monroe was in color, but it wasn’t her first trip to the film noir rodeo. In addition to her two scenes in “The Asphalt Jungle,” both of which are excellent, she costarred in 1952’s “Don’t Bother to Knock” as Nell, the psychotic niece of Eddie (noir stalwart Elisha Cook Jr.). Nell is hired to baby-sit a kid she’ll eventually bind and gag, but not before playing scenes opposite film noir’s ultimate psychotic, Richard Widmark. He’s the good guy here — no pushing old ladies in wheelchairs down the stairs this time.

The critics were not kind to Monroe on “Don’t Bother to Knock,” but I think she’s fantastic. She’s unpredictable, and makes some wild acting choices she would never make again. She makes Nell a scary, yet sad, broken figure. Enough noir! Let’s talk about a happier topic:

Marilyn Monroe as … a gifted comedienne

Forget about “The Seven Year Itch.” Monroe’s most iconic moment is in the movie (the famous sewer grate breeze scene), and she gives a good performance (only she could deliver a line about putting her panties in the freezer without making it sound as disgusting as it should). But it’s an awful movie, one of Billy Wilder’s worst.

Marilyn Monroe, left, and Jane Russell in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”Criterion Collection

I’ll also gloss over 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” which is not only a great movie, it’s my second favorite musical of all time behind “Singin’ in the Rain.” Monroe is superb here, even when she’s not singing that song about diamonds. But I daresay the real MVP in this movie is Jane Russell. She and Monroe have an incredible chemistry, and Howard Hawks knew the movie rose and fell with his comedic duo. But Russell’s imitation of Monroe, not to mention her gay as hell gym musical number, steal the show.

1953’s pairing of Monroe and Bettys Grable and Bacall, “How to Marry a Millionaire,” is historic for being the first movie shot in CinemaScope. Other than that, it’s far inferior to “Gentlemen.” New York City — and the three leads — do look great in CinemaScope, though.

Marilyn Monroe (as Sugar Kane) and Tony Curtis (in the Joe side of his Joe/Josephine character) share wine aboard a luxury yacht in a scene from “Some Like It Hot.”The New York Times

I’ll give a bit more space to two of my favorite Monroe acting jobs. First, Monroe is quite memorable as poor Miss Caswell in “All About Eve.” She gets some good lines, but my favorite moment of hers occurs after her failed audition. She never makes it to the stage because her nerves have rendered her nauseous. Her silent attempt at restoring her dignity through her posture as she exits the ladies room is just perfect. George Sanders, who shares all of her screentime, lets her get away with scene-stealing murder.

And of course, there’s “Some Like It Hot,” where her singer, Sugar Kane, convinces us that Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon could pass as women. In a 1999 interview with Michael Blowen, Wilder said he swore he’d never work with Monroe again after “The Seven Year Itch,” but after writing the script, he knew he “needed her for the key part.” Whatever happened on the set, it didn’t affect the outcome. Monroe is not only hilarious, she gives a great performance, perhaps her finest.

“She transformed the movie screen,” Wilder told Blowen about her role as Sugar. And she did it in black and white, the best way to appreciate Marilyn Monroe, the actor. Because the silvery cinematography eliminates all the artifice of color and lets you see her honing her craft.

Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.