A review by lory_enterenchanted
The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me: Six Months on the Set With Marilyn and Olivier by Colin Clark

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.0

This diary kept by Colin Clark of his time as 3rd assistant director (i.e. a gofer) on the set of a film with Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier offers a glimpse into filmmaking as well as the iconic movie star and a theatrical legend. I can't say that either the process or the people come across as very attractive. Filmmaking involves chopping a story up into little bits and using illusion and technical expertise to create the illusion of reality. Olivier was a brute to Marilyn, and Marilyn was a mess. Clark, who has clearly fallen in love with her, makes all kinds of excuses -- she's a star, of course she should get to behave impossibly! -- only dimly sensing the truth, that she is a victim of abuse, a sacrifice to the world's demand for sex-appeal on screen, pushed around by her minders until she doesn't have a chance to know who she is any more. 

Clark himself doesn't come across very well either, constantly harping on his famous connections (as the son of Sir Kenneth Clark) and dropping a girlfriend in a callous way once Marilyn swims into his ken. He looks forward to when he can be a producer and sleep with starlets -- that about says it all.