Jean Harlow’s first starring role, done for Columbia just before she went on the MGM and true, permanent fame. She’s a girl from a small town, looking for a husband in the big city – the sort of simple plot that Hollywood did so well in the 30s, but not under director William Beaudine, despite dialogue from Robert Riskind. It’s awkwardly staged, dull and feels as though it takes forever, even though it’s only 68 minutes.
Harlow was getting better but was still a long way from good; she spends a fair amount of time in this pre-Code film going without a bra (they refer to her as a platinum blonde during the film.) There are better performances from the two girls who play her friends – Marie Prevost as Harlow’s fat roommate, and Mae Clarke as a friend who has a fling with a married man that ends unhappily and winds up killing herself (shades of Valley of the Dolls – also like that movie, Harlow flees to her small town at the end and is chased after by her married lover). The male actors are terrible.
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