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In February of 1956, a press conference was held in New York heralding what Joshua Logan called "the best combination since black and white," and, at the time, it didseem like a great idea — pairing the ultimate actor with the ultimate sex symbol — but, by the time the project rolled into production in the U.K. in July, the color scheme shifted to black and blue: the clang of titans with easily bruised egos.

Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe came together as co-stars of "The Prince and the Showgirl" at cross purposes (compounding that problem, he directed and she produced): Olivier craved her popularity with the masses; Monroe, longing for his prestige, hoped for a little gilt-by-association. Neither won, but their film was "not an un-success." Fated the fail from the get-go, they never let their chaos spill onto cinematographer Jack Cardiff's sumptuous view of 1911-vintage England.

	Poster art for "The Prince and the Showgirl"

This was the first (and only) offering of Marilyn Monroe Productions and the only film she made outside of the American continent, so she had only herself to thank for stirring up old little-girl-lost insecurities. Isolated in England, surrounded by the imagined enemy, she became scared, terminally tardy and irritatingly undirectable.

A miscarriage and a failing new marriage completed the perfect storm. Miller bolted back to New York and playwriting but spent the remains of their marriage going through — four times! — a turbulent process that became the title of his final play, Finishing the Picture (about the making/unmaking of her last, "The Misfits").

"The Prince and the Showgirl" is not the stuff of serious film study. The only reason it comes up now is because of the literary droppings of a go-fer on the set, providing a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the ensuing rants and rampages on Mount Olympus.

Colin Clark, as befit the son of historian Lord Kenneth Clark, kept a detailed diary of his first film job — Third Assistant Director, which here roughly translated as Monroe wrangler. At 23, he was an unswerving protector for the fragile star — often, her most trusted touch with reality — an experience that produced fodder for two memoirs and (albeit, posthumously) movies: "The Prince, the Showgirl and Me" became an hour-long 2004 documentary of archival footage; its more intimate sequel, "My Week With Marilyn," is now a feature film, now in movies theatres, with a bygone Olympus cluttered with Michelle Williams (MM), Kenneth Branagh (Olivier), Olivier- and Tony-winner for Red Eddie Redmayne (Clark), Julia Ormond (Leigh) and Dougray Scott (Miller).