Platinum Blonde is directed by Frank Capra and written by Jo Swerling. It stars Robert Williams, Loretta Young and Jean Harlow. Plot finds Harlow as rich heiress Ann Schuyler, who seduces down to earth reporter Stew Smith (Williams) into marriage. It's a union that causes chagrin to many around them
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Not quite a screwball comedy as some folk have called it, Platinum Blonde is more a comedy drama that's laced with some tasty satire involving the gap between the classes. The lady actors are oddly cast, but remarkably this does not hurt the movie too much. This mainly comes down to fact that the wonderful performance of Williams dominates the picture. Williams would sadly pass away within a month of Platinum Blonde's release, a victim of complications caused by a ruptured appendix, Platinum Blonde shows that a great career was in the making. With an unassuming face and smooth and correct delivery of comedy set-ups, Williams adds meat to the skeleton script whilst creating a working-class guy we can really root for. Not that the rich are constantly bludgeoned here, story does have Harlow's Ann as sympathetic and capable of loyalty to her husband when her parents frown and look down their noses at Stew.
It has been suggested that Harlow and Young perhaps should have switched roles? There's some decent logic behind that working far better for the movie. Both ladies have different sexual dynamism, Harlow walks like a panther and carries a man eater aura, Young is gorgeous, prim and looks bred into money. Both of which are at odds with the characters they are playing! In the support slots are three fine performances: Halliwell Hobbes as Butler Smythe, Louise Closser Hale as Mother Schuyler and Reginald Owen as the Schuyler's lawyer Dexter Grayson. The ending holds no surprises, but this is exactly the type of thing that Depression Era audiences lapped up in spades. The format and thematics of Capra's movie would become a staple of many more movies from the classic era, this is a good place to start, with some sharp dialogue, the tongue in cheek satire and a lead male performance of some quality. 7/10
Not quite a screwball comedy as some folk have called it, Platinum Blonde is more a comedy drama that's laced with some tasty satire involving the gap between the classes. The lady actors are oddly cast, but remarkably this does not hurt the movie too much. This mainly comes down to fact that the wonderful performance of Williams dominates the picture. Williams would sadly pass away within a month of Platinum Blonde's release, a victim of complications caused by a ruptured appendix, Platinum Blonde shows that a great career was in the making. With an unassuming face and smooth and correct delivery of comedy set-ups, Williams adds meat to the skeleton script whilst creating a working-class guy we can really root for. Not that the rich are constantly bludgeoned here, story does have Harlow's Ann as sympathetic and capable of loyalty to her husband when her parents frown and look down their noses at Stew.
It has been suggested that Harlow and Young perhaps should have switched roles? There's some decent logic behind that working far better for the movie. Both ladies have different sexual dynamism, Harlow walks like a panther and carries a man eater aura, Young is gorgeous, prim and looks bred into money. Both of which are at odds with the characters they are playing! In the support slots are three fine performances: Halliwell Hobbes as Butler Smythe, Louise Closser Hale as Mother Schuyler and Reginald Owen as the Schuyler's lawyer Dexter Grayson. The ending holds no surprises, but this is exactly the type of thing that Depression Era audiences lapped up in spades. The format and thematics of Capra's movie would become a staple of many more movies from the classic era, this is a good place to start, with some sharp dialogue, the tongue in cheek satire and a lead male performance of some quality. 7/10