The Legend of Marilyn Monroe (1964)
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Terry Sanders
Narrated by John Huston

Features:

• Commentary (not running, mind you) from producer David L. Wolper and director Sanders regarding the history of the film and the film's subject
  
• Photo galleries containing never-before-seen images of Monroe
  
• Biographies
  

Anamorphic: N/A, appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Rent It.

How Marilyn Monroe rose from a non-entity on the celebrity scene to a goddess among the Hollywood pantheon is a subject that's discussed only slightly less often than speculating about her premature and tragic end. Shortly after the starlet's death, producer David L. Wolper thought that Monroe's life and death would be a story worth documenting. Dispatching a crew to film the actress' funeral, he enlisted director Terry Sanders to put together a documentary in order to cover ground that no one else had. Finally getting a network to bite, the film aired in 1964--and hasn't been seen since.

Well, until now: it's been released on DVD and now available for Monroe-philes everywhere. So the first question we must ask is: did Wolper succeed in his goals? And from what I can tell, the answer is yes. Rather than the stories that I have seen before, that focused mostly on Monroe as Monroe rather than her life before, this takes a relatively balanced view and does pack in a lot of information for a film that lasts less than an hour. It begins at the beginning, back when Monroe was still Norma Jean Mortensen. It follows her life through her marriages, her problems, and finally ends up with her death and the aftermath. Narrated by director John Huston, who had helmed Monroe's first and last major flicks, the film also has interviews with people who I'd never seen approached about Monroe before: such as Lee Strasberg, Monroe's schoolteacher, Monroe's nurse/housekeeper and others.

As far as extra features go, I feel that it's the extras that make this disc. Between the documentary and the commentary, which consists of Wolper and Sanders talking to the camera about their experience on the film, it feels like a complete package. I really would have felt less satisfied with just one or the other. The commentary lasts thirty minutes, and is a bit on the long side. This is especially due to the fact that certain subjects are covered multiple times by both speakers: for example, the amount of exclusive information and interviews included in the film. It's fascinating to hear about this stuff, but it loses its novelty after the second time. A bit of editing on the commentary would have fixed this. Another small nit is that the commentary seems to flow back and forth from Wolper and Sanders and does so with no structure. Editing the bits into sections divided up by title cards would have been a good idea for how to force it into some form of sanity.

The only other problem I have with the disc is that the theme music for the film is played throughout the menus. Including the biographies. And starts over with each buttonstroke on your remote. So it grows tiresome quickly. But for the most part, the disc as a whole is worthwhile. For Monroe fans, this is a definite to be picked up. For the rest of us, it's worth at least viewing.