Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Movie review - “Hold Your Man” (1933) **1/2

The Production Code was beginning to have it’s influence felt by this stage, but not immediately – for instance when he first see Jean Harlow she’s naked in a bathtub and we see her bare back and a glimpse of boob; her first scene with Clark Gable is done with her in a flimsy nighty; they clearly have pre-martial sex. She’s a con artist and so is he (the opening scene features the gambit used in the first scene of The Sting), and they're both clearly into each other, so they strike up a rapport.
 
This starts off bright and cheery - Anita Loos worked on the script - but as the film goes on it gets more serious and less fun - Gable accidentally kills a guy he punches out, Harlow winds up in girl gaol, they get married. Some interesting sociological aspects: the lead duo are married by a black minister, one of Harlow's fellow inmates is an outspoken communist.

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