Let's Make It Legal revolves around Colbert and Macdonald Carey as a married couple of 20 years headed for divorce. She wants to divorce him because of his gambling and she's already left, living with her daughter (Barbara Bates) and son-in-law (Robert Wagner). Carey works at a hotel where he's Wagner's boss and both of them are trying to appease a millionaire played by Zachary Scott, who just happened to once be the love interest of Colbert. Finally, if you're still keeping up, there's a younger woman, played by Marilyn Monroe, trying to get her hands on Scott's money. Like I said, Diamond's combination of sophisticated wit and farcical plotting was already on full display in 1951.
Colbert did this movie after having to drop out of the starring role as Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950) a few months prior due to a back injury. The fact that All About Eve not only became an instant classic but an iconic role for Bette Davis probably stung and perhaps doing a raucous comedy was Colbert going back to her comfort zone. After all, from her Oscar-winning turn in It Happened One Night (1934) to the rapid-fire free-for-all The Palm Beach Story (1942), Colbert was at home in comedy. But when Let's Make It Legal didn't score big with either critics or the public, Colbert decided to take a break from the movies--a break that, with only a few minor appearances later, became a permanent leave of absence. She would continue a successful stage career and return to television in the 1980s, winning a Golden Globe for her work in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles.
Marilyn Monroe fared better. Monroe had seen a career lift just the year before with two small parts in big movies. One of them, as it turns out, was All About Eve, the other was The Asphalt Jungle. After this and Monkey Business (1952) the following year (co-written by Diamond), her career was set. Meanwhile, after the success of Monkey Business, I.A.L. Diamond started working with Billy Wilder and the two quickly became one of the most successful writing teams in movie history.
Let's Make It Legal may not be the best comedy Colbert ever made, but there's enough talent involved to make the whole effort worthwhile. And Colbert, as always, carries the film like a pro.
Directed by Richard Sale
Produced by Robert Bassler
Story by Mortimer Braus
Screenplay by I.A.L. Diamond, F. Hugh Herbert
Cinematography by Lucien Ballard
Edited by Robert Fritch
Art Direction by Albert Hogsett, Lyle Wheeler
Set Decoration by Paul S. Fox, Thomas Little
Costume Design by Charles Le Maire, Renié
Cast: Claudette Colbert (Miriam Halsworth), Macdonald Carey (Hugh Halsworth), Zachary Scott (Victor Macfarland), Barbara Bates (Barbara Denham), Robert Wagner (Jerry Denham), Marilyn Monroe (Joyce Mannering), Frank Cady (Ferguson)
By Greg Ferrara
