Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Movie review – “Suzy” (1936) **

Ridiculous Jean Harlow movie – a typical MGM mixture of melodrama and gags, with some war stuff thrown in. Our hero plays an American showgirl in London prior to World War One determined to marry a rich husband, as many Harlow heroines do; she falls in love with an Irish inventor (Franchot Tone in an unconvincing brogue), who gets shot by a spy on their wedding day. Then she falls for a French flyer (Cary Grant, with fortunately no accent), wins over his father (Lewis Stone) (Harlow films often had in-laws disapproving of her), is cuckolded by him, discovers Tone is still alive (and is best friends with Grant), busts a spy ring, helps win the war.

 It gets sillier and sillier and not even the considerable star power of the lead trio can save the day. Some of the Grant-Harlow scenes have charm; the Tone-Harlow stuff might have worked if not for his ridiculous accent. It's of historical interest; Harlow talks about the importance of the people of France not thinking Grant was a clown - shades of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Dark Knight. Dorothy Parker worked on the script and apparently some of the aerial footage was from Hell's Angels, which launched Harlow's career.

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