TCM Greatest Classic
Film Collection: Legends - Jean Harlow (Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / China
Seas / Wife vs. Secretary)TCM Greatest Classic
Film Collection: Legends - Jean Harlow (Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / China
Seas / Wife vs. Secretary)
I ADORE Jean Harlow...and these are great
films,
May 19, 2011
The fact that this Harlow collection was manufactured by
TCM guarantees quality of the product. TCM has spearheaded the early film
restoration project that has salvaged many of the great movies from the wages
of time & neglect. Since other reviewers discuss the individual films (I
give each one a 5 star rating), I just want to take this opportunity to set the
record straight on a remark I made in another review of a Harlow movie.
In that review I said something to the effect that maybe Harlow couldn't act
her way out of a paper bag, but who cares? She was just too adorable &
lovely. Since then I've seen other Harlow movies & discovered something:
When she wasn't playing a vamp and just an "ordinary" woman...she was
damned good! Very natural, very competent. Up to this point I had only seen her
in "shady lady" type roles.
Please don't misunderstand, I loved her in the vampy roles too, and part of the
fun was that she did seem to go way over the top & overact. Now I realize
that she WAS an "ordinary" woman (who happened to be stunningly
attractive) and the vamp roles were wildly out of character--hence the tendency
to overact. She was playing a part that was nothing like her true self. The
overacting was funny & I think it allowed people--like yours truly--to
identify even more with her.
In this regard she was very much like Marilyn Monroe (who was probably inspired
by the Harlow Platinum Bombshell legacy.) Both actresses were real photogenic
Aphrodites, but their little foibles allowed people to see them as being just
like "real" people. Women loved them as much as men--and this was a
real secret to their success. If they had been as perfect as they looked, they
would have inspired envy in other women, not adulation. It allowed the fantasy
that female fans could really be like them too. Jean Harlow had the added
attraction of being completely down to earth. She enjoyed hanging out with the
stage crew & treated everybody with honest sincerity. Yes, I am a fan!
If you enjoy 30's movies, you can't go wrong with this collection.
PS. Another example of this "identification principle" was Roseanne
Barr-Arnold-Whatever. When she was...plump...and before all the cosmetic
surgery, she was a hoot. But when she slimmed down & started to look
generic...not so funny anymore.
Review:
Jeff Farrow
Updated
11/11
www.gnostics.com