Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3947 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 79 minutes

Amazon.com
Jean Harlow was never sexier than in this pre-Hays Code comedy. With her trademark platinum hair dyed an unlikely shade of red (breaking the first of many '30s taboos), Harlow plays Lil, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who's determined to climb the business ladder even if it means sleeping her way to the top. Harlow sets her sights on her boss, Bill (Chester Morris), and refuses to take no for an answer; the problem is, though, her boss is a married man. The shameless home wrecker uses every trick in the book to snag him until her behavior borders on what we'd call "stalking" in today's lexicon. Red-Headed Woman wavers wildly between comedy and weighty melodrama, with Harlow showing great comic flair as well as pathos in her portrayal of Lil. More significant, though, is the plot; more than a little risqué (even for modern times), this is an example of the type of film that simply couldn't be made a few years later. With marital infidelity; lots of implicit sex, violence, sadism (when Bill finally slaps Lil out of frustration, she says "Hit me again! I like it!"); and plenty of bare female flesh, this is thoroughly adult fare. Fast moving, funny, sexy, and ribald, Red-Headed Woman is a great example of the type of movie entertainment that came from Hollywood before outraged moralists and the Production Code dropped a net of censorship over the studios. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

A PRE-CODE GEM!
Filled with laughs and loaded with 1932 dynamite, it exposed the males as chumps and convincingly describes what the tired business man likes. The answer was Harlow. The shapely beauty here gave an amazingly sexy performance, even out-Bowing Clara Bow! IF PLATINUM BLONDE (1931) gave Harlow the oppurtunity to hold the purse strings to castration, RED-HEADED WOMAN allowed her to use her body to obtain and manipulate those purse strings. First marrying for wealth, she then tries to blackmail and bed her way toward social acceptance by her husband's peers. But one too many indiscretions - with the chauffeur - takes the bloom off her rich man's bud, and not even reconciliation with her hubby works now.......Although her role resembles that of the early vamp, Anita Loos' script is fast and funny; the gold-digger's ruthlessness is toned down by comic lines and lighthearted direction, and eventually she skips off scot-free to a charmed future as a noble concubine - with a racehorse, a titled lover, and the same chauffeur all her very own! During the early thirties of slackened production codes, Jean Harlow found her metier as a funny, sexy tart whose sensuality heightened crude humour and whose humour gave added depth to her formerly one-dimensional image. In 1932, critics and audiences alike raved at this film's double wallop.

"Do it again, I like it!"
Probably one of the raciest, funniest movies made in Hollywood in the 1930s, this is by far and away Jean Harlow's best performance and cemented Miss Harlow's future in films. It hit the screen at exactly the right time - - with the subject matter, it could never have been made several years later. Miss Harlow plays Lil Andrews, the redheaded title character who is nothing short of a gold digger. In the opening scene Lil asks whether or not her dress can be seen through and finding out that indeed, it can, she states "I'll wear it!" And she never backs down from there! She singlemindedly pursues her boss, Bill, with no concerns that he is married to the sweet Irene. "She doesn't need to know about us!" Lil tells Bill, as he tries to fight her off - - obviously in vain. The two end up in a brawl, with Bill slugging the drunken Lil and Lil crying "Do it again, I like it!" Could any other actress have gloried in being roughed up? Irene divorces Bill and Bill marries Lil after a night of drinking. Lil settles into being a society wife (a showy one - - catch the stunning dress she wears at the dinner party) but it's not long before she has her eye on a richer man. In any other actress' hands, the character of Lil might have been an unsympathetic, vile tart but Miss Harlow makes her so humorous, so likable that you can't help but smile over her exploits. Wonderful, wonderful film - - makes you realize what other gems were missed out on after the enforcement of the Production Code. Watch for Charles Boyer in a small role as a chauffeur.

Jean's Red-Headed Pre-code
This is a strange, but humorous movie about an ambitious red-head who sleeps her way into high society. I have seen almost everything that Harlow was in, but this is my favorite. You can't help but laugh and feel really sorry for poor Jeanie at the same time. An absolute must for Harlow fans.