BLONDE THE MARILYN STORIES DVD Set

Three-disc boxed DVD set, 4 hours in all, with Goodbye, Norma Jean (biodrama, 1976, starring Misty Rowe);  Marilyn And Me (1991 made-for-tv film starring Susan Griffiths, about her (secret or mythical) marriage to filmmaker Robert Slatzer); and Blonde (2001, based on Joyce Carol Oates' "biographical re-imagining" of Marilyn Monroe, starring Poppy Montgomery. Bonus material: Marilyn Documentary, first ever TV appearance, photo gallery, and The Legend of Marilyn Monroe. Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976). The troubled adolescence and stormy early film career of screen goddess Marilyn Monroe receive a lurid but arresting chronicle in this biodrama by Larry Buchanan (Beyond the Doors). Misty Rowe stars as munitions factory worker Norma Jean Baker, whose path to superstardom was riddled by exploitation and abuse; with Patch Mackenzie, Terence Locke, Stuart Lancaster. 96 min. Marilyn And Me (1991). In the early '70s, writer/filmmaker Robert Slatzer came forward asserting that he was an intimate of Marilyn Monroe since the late '40s, and that they'd had a brief, studio-annulled marriage in 1952. His claims served as the basis of this made-for-TV offering, starring go-to Marilyn lookalike Susan Griffiths as the screen goddess and Jesse Dabson as Slatzer; Terry Moore, Kurt Fuller, Sandy McPeak, Michael Cavanaugh also star. 100 min. Blonde (2001). Based on Joyce Carol Oates' "biographical re-imagining" of Marilyn Monroe, this moving drama traces the screen siren's ill-fated life, from a turbulent childhood in foster homes and rise to the top of the Hollywood pantheon to her doomed marriages and continual search for true love. Poppy Montgomery stars as Monroe; with Patricia Richardson, Ann-Margret, Griffin Dunne as "the Playwright," and Titus Welliver as "the Ex-Athlete." 4 hrs. Total on two discs. Additional directors include Art Lieberman and Larry Buchanan.