Telegraph.co.uk
M&S whistles up Banderas as Bogart
By Chris Hastings, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:17am BST 02/09/2007
It is one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history. A 19-year-old and still unknown Lauren Bacall utters an immortal line and wins her real-life future husband Humphrey Bogart:
Antonio Banderas will star in the M&S advertising campaign
"You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow."
Now, more than 60 years later, the legendary scene from the 1944 film To Have and Have Not is to take centre stage again - but as part of the new Marks & Spencer Christmas advertising campaign for television.
The commercial features a series of scenes that pay tribute to films from Hollywood's golden era of the Forties and Fifties.
Antonio Banderas, the star of Evita, Zorro and two Shrek films, will play the male role in each shot, including Bogart. The female leads will be portrayed by M&S regulars Twiggy, Laura Bailey, Erin O'Connor, Noémie Lenoir and Lizzie Jagger.
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The closely guarded multi-million pound production will also pay homage to the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which starred Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. It will feature the scene when Russell's character disrupts a courtroom when she disguises herself as the woman played by Monroe and performs a routine in the middle of a trial.
The M&S campaigns have been instrumental in reversing the fortunes of the store, which had fallen out of favour with shoppers. The ads have raised the profile of all involved, in particular Twiggy and Dame Shirley Bassey, who appeared in the last Christmas advert. But Banderas, who is due to star in the Shrek spin-off Puss In Boots and Sin City 2, is the campaign's biggest draw so far, and his participation is likely to generate international attention.
A source within the company said: "Everyone is delighted that Antonio has got involved. It's hard to think of something more fitting for Christmas than Hollywood glamour and glitz."
The line quoted by Bacall in To Have and Have Not has been rated the 34th most memorable line in American cinema history. The song, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, sung by Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, has been celebrated by stars as diverse as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Nicole Kidman. It is believed that it could be reprised in the campaign.
The Sunday Telegraph understands the commercials will begin appearing at the end of November.
A spokesman for Marks & Spencer last night declined to be drawn on the campaign. She said that talk of the Hollywood star's participation was speculation and that the finer details were still being decided on.