Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Loretta Young, Robert Williams, and Jean Harlow
Produced by Columbia Pictures
Stew Smith is the ace reporter for The Post and regularly gets the big assignments. When he's not chasing down leads, he's killing time with his best friend in the newsroom, the lovely Gallagher.
Smith gets assigned to track down claims that the wealthy Schuyler family paid off a chorus girl to drop a civil suit against the family's womanizing son Michael.
Smith and a rival reporter from the Tribune are allowed to interview the family. The other reporter leaves with a bribe to drop the issue, but Smith is made of sterner stuff. First, he tricks the Schuyler matriarch into admitting the payoff, but seems swayed by the advances of her daughter Anne. However, in the end Smith calls his editor with the scoop, enraging the family.
The next day Smith returns with letters he had found from Michael to the chorus girl, providing salacious details about the affair. Anne offers a sizable bribe to Smith, but the reporter refuses the money and returns the letters, simply stating the previous story was news, but the letters would not.
Anne is intrigued by Smith and the two spend the afternoon together. She begins seeing him and the couple spontaneously elope, much to the dismay of both Mrs. Schuyler and Gallagher (who has been pining for Smith).
But marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be. Anne is trying to mold Stew into a proper gentleman, but the very independent reporter has his own ideas. Can the two making it work? And just how will Smith find his muse to finish a play he's been writing on the side?
Platinum Blonde has a very basic setup. It's a guy falling for the wrong girl while the perfect girl is under his nose all along. We have all seen it before.
So why is this film so engaging?
There are plenty of reasons. Williams as Stew Smith for starters. He plays the character just right. Instead of the pronounced gesticulations of the silent era, Williams gives a smooth, natural performance. There are any number of moments he could come off as obnoxious or whiny or petulant, but he strikes just the right balance to keep Smith charming and likable. The audience wants to see him win here and that is not the easiest trick to pull off when your character is constantly making bad decisions.
The second standout here though is Frank Capra. He keeps the action moving by striking a middle ground between the stagy presentations by most directors and the wild zooms and angles of Murnau.
The film features some nice tracking shots (as when the camera follows Smith and Anne through the Schuyler estate during one of their initial meetings). There is a beautiful moment with the couple where we see their first romantic moment shot through stained glass as rain drips down the window.
The final star of this film is the script. It's an early prototype for all the screwball comedies to come. There's a rat-a-tat-tat to a lot of Williams delivery. When the dialogue picks up, Capra just settles down with camera and let's the actors and the words carry the action.
I have not mentioned the two stars most would be familiar with. Loretta Young has almost nothing to do here. Her job is basically to hang in the background and wait to see if the man she loves will come to his senses. Young's fine, but never really gets a moment to shine.
Jean Harlow may have the toughest job in the film and I think if the script fails anyone, it's her. She at first seems to genuinely fall in love with Stew, but later she treats him like a reclamation project. It's possible both motivations are there together, but neither the writer nor Harlow really work to clarify things.
Because of where the film wants to go, the third act goes off the rails. Stew inadvertently throws a party at the Schuyler's mansion and things get out of hand. However, they never really establish that Stew's friends all have mentality of frat boys. With how tight s lot of the early plot feels, having things just loosen up completely feels wrong.
There are so many weird decisions at the end of the film, even Stew seems surprised when he finally chooses between Anne and Gallagher. There's no build up; it just...happens.
The film has a broad thematic concern with class, but I don't really think it has a ton to say on the subject. It's all surface level and even when it does something subtle (like naming our working class hero "Smith" and the Schuyler's butler "Smythe"), they have to call it out with a "Did you see what we did there?" nudge.
There's quite a bit I like here and more I merely admire. Platinum Blonde isn't perfect. It isn't laugh out loud funny. It is a helluva fun time though.
***1/2 out of *****
NOTE: Never heard of Williams? There's a reason. Four days after the film's release, the actor had an acute appendicitis and died. It's a tragedy we didn't get to see what might have been.
NOTE: Just because, here's one of my favorite little exchanges in the movie. It's Stew talking with the Schuyler's butler Smythe about puttering:
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