Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Platinum Blonde is a prime example of the early sound film breaking away from stage
conventions and finding new life in wise-cracking, idiom-laden stylized dialogue. Frank Capra
pioneered the emphasis on casual speeches that sound as if real people might be saying them,
and at this part in his career he was attracting big audiences and big attention with his
freewheeling style.
Rather ordinary in plot, the Jo Swerling/Robert Riskin story soars on its funny dialogue. It helped
make a star of Jean Harlow, and is an excellent place to judge her initial appeal, and compare it
to the less gaudy beauty of top-billed Loretta Young.
Synopsis:
Crashing stately Schuyler manor while investigating an alienation of affections
lawsuit, reporter Stew Smith (Robert Williams) falls in love with Schuyler miss Anne (Jean Harlow).
Soon they're married, to the chagrin of Stew's newspaper buddy Gallagher (Loretta Young), who never
was able to catch Stew's eye. But when the proud reporter finds out he's to become a 'bird in a
gilded cage' for the Schuyler family, there's trouble in the air.
Frank Capra's main crime in his autobiography is not properly crediting his writers. Jo Swerling and
Robert Riskin were instrumental in his string of 30s and 40s successes, and everything that came to
be known as 'Capracorn' is in evidence in their work here. The eccentric reporters with their
colorful expressions and fast-talking banter show up, as do the scenes where people break out into
little songs. Minor characters like the butler are given major moments with the stars. There's
even a key component of 'Capracorn', the examination of a single whimsical word, like 'doodle' in
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Here, he word is putter. There are the familiar abbreviated literary
allusions in the dialogue. The hero is a brash & scrappy man of the
people, resolutely opposed to the high-toned upper class, and likely to punch people in the nose.
No wonder that one of Capra's writers once pushed a blank sheet of paper into a reporter's face and
said something to the effect of, "Let's see Capra singlehandedly make magic out of this!"
Capra was obviously a superior director, and Platinum Blonde shows him doing technical
wonders on the studio sound stages. The film is beautifully shot by Joseph Walker, positively glowing
when compared to many other dull-looking films from 1931. It's vibrant and alive and never
static for a moment. The sound is also expertly recorded - Capra had a CalTech degree in engineering
and surely applied himself personally to the limitations of the audio equipment of the day. He plays
with speech loud and soft, with singing, echoes, and audio perspective, and enriches the film greatly.
If I didn't see '1931' on the copyright, I would have thought the picture to be at least four years newer.
Capra helped cement the stardom of Jean Harlow, and Platinum Blonde shows why. A
proletarian beauty if there ever was one, Harlow here plays a society girl and Capra's direction has a lot
to do with the functioning of her performance. She's not given the fast-talking dialogue, and she still
literally
glows off the screen, especially in her introductory scenes where Capra encourages cameraman Walker
to make her skin seem incandescent. She looks incredibly white, healthy and sexy, and it's an
attraction that communicates directly to viewers even 72 years later. She's also allowed to be
controversial, at least at the beginning when Capra wants us to be as entranced as his reporter hero:
a long tracking shot through Schuyler manor retreats before Harlow as she walks braless for at least
thirty seconds. We therefore get Harlow's audacious screen image out of the way early; the men in
the audience melt and frustrated depression women marvel at the star's mastery over the power of sex.
1931 would have been a good year to invest in a company that made hair-dyeing products.
From then on Harlow's sexuality is kept carefully in check. Although she's a beauty in a number of
great outfits, Capra stops 'selling' her to concentrate on story and other characters. She is given
only third billing, with the drop-dead beautiful Loretta Young (already on her 30th film and scarcely
eighteen years old) holding top position.
Young makes a great contrast to Harlow. She's a more natural actress and beautiful in an entirely
different way. Harlow eventually overcame the essential cheapness of her basic appeal but Young
comes across as intelligent and profound. She's clearly a great looker but must have been devastating
in person; when she tagged along to nightclubs at age 15, Joan Crawford was so afraid of her
as competition that she demanded Loretta be left behind.
Capra's fairness to his characters allows Young to be sincere and deserving,
while not condemning Harlow's disapproval of her husband's distaste for society
manners. In this way the story's dull theme, the incompatibility of rich folk and ordinary stiffs
like us, stays interesting.
The male lead and the scripted center of the tale is Robert Williams' reporter Stew Smith. Williams is
great with the dialogue and a little lacking in the star personality department, but that's okay as
it allows us to concentrate on the women. It's possible that he might have developed into something bigger,
but he died of
appendicitis soon after the film was finished. He's a younger and less brash version of Lee Tracy,
the fast-talking, cynical reporter type known from pictures like Blessed Event and the later
Harlow vehicle Bombshell, made after she was gobbled up by MGM.
The pre-code dialogue is a lot of fun, with plenty of abbreviated 'son-of-a ...'s and people advising
others where they can put things (where the sun don't shine) and where they can go. Platinum Blonde
is an enjoyable film from Frank Capra's sparkling early career, and a great picture for female
stargazing as well.
Columbia TriStar's Platinum Blonde has a really great transfer from elements in terrific
condition, picture and sound. Even Columbia's chintzy-looking early logo looks fine. No complaints
whatsoever. A couple of trailers are the only extras. Neither is for this film.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Platinum Blonde rates:
Movie: Very Good
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: none (two trailers for other films)
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: October 30, 2003
DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson
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