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Platinum Blonde (Frank Capra, 1931)
Before Frank Capra became Hollywood's most-popular filmmaker in the mid-1930s, he was already one of its hardest-working. From 1926 through 1931, Capra directed 18 feature films, 16 for Columbia Pictures. This is one of the best-known from that era, mainly because of co-star Jean Harlow's rising star, but it's actually more interesting for the presence of leading man Robert Williams. What? You say you've never heard of him? That's probably true but unfortunate. Robert Williams died of peritonitis three days after the release of this film, but his offbeat charm will always be present in this cute Pre-Code film.
The plot involves a newspaper reporter named Smith (Williams) who often works with Gallagher (Loretta Young), who secretly loves him. One day, Smith is assigned to cover a scandal involving a high-class society family's son, and he successfully gets the dirt by using his "reporting skills". The upshot of this is that he attracts the attention of the family's beautiful blonde daughter Anne (Jean Harlow) who begins to fall for him when he helps to quash the blackmail scheme involving her brother. They secretly marry and a battle of wills ensues involving who will bend more to the other's desire in sharing their lives. The film is pretty good but not really up to the level which Capra maintained from 1933 through 1948. From watching this movie, it's difficult to tell how much of the Smith character is acting and how much is Williams' personality, but whatever it is, it's worth checking out. Not to turn this movie into a total downer, but Harlow also died, only six years later, due to uremic poisoning.
Before Frank Capra became Hollywood's most-popular filmmaker in the mid-1930s, he was already one of its hardest-working. From 1926 through 1931, Capra directed 18 feature films, 16 for Columbia Pictures. This is one of the best-known from that era, mainly because of co-star Jean Harlow's rising star, but it's actually more interesting for the presence of leading man Robert Williams. What? You say you've never heard of him? That's probably true but unfortunate. Robert Williams died of peritonitis three days after the release of this film, but his offbeat charm will always be present in this cute Pre-Code film.
The plot involves a newspaper reporter named Smith (Williams) who often works with Gallagher (Loretta Young), who secretly loves him. One day, Smith is assigned to cover a scandal involving a high-class society family's son, and he successfully gets the dirt by using his "reporting skills". The upshot of this is that he attracts the attention of the family's beautiful blonde daughter Anne (Jean Harlow) who begins to fall for him when he helps to quash the blackmail scheme involving her brother. They secretly marry and a battle of wills ensues involving who will bend more to the other's desire in sharing their lives. The film is pretty good but not really up to the level which Capra maintained from 1933 through 1948. From watching this movie, it's difficult to tell how much of the Smith character is acting and how much is Williams' personality, but whatever it is, it's worth checking out. Not to turn this movie into a total downer, but Harlow also died, only six years later, due to uremic poisoning.