Let's Make It Legal [G]

There is still one more day before the divorce of Hugh and Miriam becomes final and their daughter is frantically trying to get them back together and rekindle the happy home of her childhood. Frustrated by his wife’s plans to reunite her parents, Barbara’s husband Jerry works to rekindle a love affair between Miriam and an old flame, who just so happens to be a millionaire. With Barbara eager to stay in the house of her childhood and be doted on by her parents, and Jerry eager to move out, the stakes have never been higher in this game. 

A cunning and clever little spoof on marriage, this movie could easily have seen the lead roles played by Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn in their wonderful heydays. An exhibition of witty dialogue, conniving characters, and snowballing plot events, Let’s Make It Legal sits as a lesser known classic within the romantic comedy canon. 

There is still one more day before the divorce of Hugh and Miriam becomes final and their daughter is frantically trying to get them back together and rekindle the happy home of her childhood. Frustrated by his wife’s plans to reunite her parents, Barbara’s husband Jerry works to rekindle a love affair between Miriam and an old flame, who just so happens to be a millionaire. With Barbara eager to stay in the house of her childhood and be doted on by her parents, and Jerry eager to move out, the stakes have never been higher in this game. 

I’ll be the first to admit that the story is one that’s a little tricky to get the grasp of initially. It’s actually rather like Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, not so much in terms of plot, but in terms of structure. Whilst the central focus is the love triangle between Miriam, her soon-to-be-ex-husband Hugh, and the charismatic bachelor/millionaire Victor, the central plot is actually a great battle of the sexes story stemming from Barbara and Jerry’s marital issues. Their grand design is what moves the story forward just like that of ‘lesser’ characters in Taming of the Shrew or Cameron and Michael in 10 Things I Hate About You for those who aren’t familiar with the Shakespearean characters (i.e. me). 

Anyway, whilst this movie doesn’t really hold a strong candle to those biting romantic comedies of Tracey and Hepburn, it still harbours a fair bit of appeal and humour. The script is quite witty at times, particularly during scenes of love triangle awkwardness, and the performances are all very solid with everyone displaying an excellent sense of comedic timing. Special applause has to go out to our central love triangle whose banter was dealt with such finesse as to make the throat tickle before the laugh fully formed. 

Starring Charlotte Colbert, Macdonald Carey, Zachary Scott, Barbara Bates, Robert Wagner, Frank Cady, and Marilyn Monroe, Let’s Make it Legal is a cunning little rom-com that’s filled with attitude, grand designs, drama, romance, love triangles, and comedy. Whilst it’s no Bringing Up Baby or Philadelphia Story, it’s still quite funny and flexes its clever muscle on more than one occasion.