Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16427 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Customer Reviews

Well worth discovering
This relatively overlooked movie has a little of everything:romance, comedy, tragedy, Paris, war, espionage and some eminentlywatchable stars. Harlow is beautiful, Grant is handsome and both are hugely talented,able to play light comedy in one scene and affecting drama in the next.The story is not particularly well-str uctured - it tries a little too hard to please every kind of viewer in every kind of way - but George Fitzmaurice's direction is disciplined enough to drive the movie on in a brisk and and engaging manner.If you are an admirer of Harlow or Grant,then this is simply unavoidable.If you want to find out why either star is so fondly remembered,then try this (along with,say,Platinum Blonde and Dinner at Eight) for Harlow,but look elsewhere (at those movies from a year or so later,like The Awful Truth or Bringing Up Baby,or any others up to 1966) for Grant.If you just want to see an entertaining, unpretentious black-and-white movie from the mid-thirties,then this is well worth giving a try.

Fine Performances In Claptrap Melodrama
Fine performances help this otherwise silly story of a World I-era show girl whose romantic entanglements lead her to uncover a German spy ring. Harlow and Tone are acceptable in their roles, and Harlow's charisma is given full play with her singing voice believably dubbed by vocalist Virginia Verrill; Lewis Stone also stands out in a supporting role. But the film belongs to Cary Grant, who gives a truly fine performance as the reckless, philandering flying ace that Harlow loves.

The first half hour or so of the film is both slow and improbable; the remainder of the film is just as silly, but with the entrance of Cary Grant, however, the film picks up steam. Most viewers will enjoy the dog-fight scenes; discerning viewers will be amused to find Harlow's 1930s gowns uneasily mixed with the WWI background. Fans of the stars will certainly want the film in their collection, but the claptrap plot reduces it to a minor effort that few others will enjoy.

Fantastic Melodrama
Suzy is pure melodrama, so if you aren't game, stop right now. The film starts out with a generous and beautiful chorus girl named Suzy (Jean Harlow). She hopes to make it big on the stage, but she refuses to submit to the advances of directors along the way. The result? She's penniless and hoping to find a rich man when she stumbles upon an elegant lad in a Rolls Royce (Franchot Tone). Although it isn't his car, she agrees to a date and soon the pair are married. However, he gets mixed up with some shady business and is shot. Suzy flees in fear of being accused of murder and finds herself married to a famous pilot on WWI (Cary Grant). Life is not perfect though, for her husband is a womanizer, and is friends with her first spouse who is very much alive.

This whole movie is a ball of emotional scenes and bits that break your heart. The romantic story is very similar to that in the silent Wings and the more recent Pearl Harbor. However, it is done very elegantly in true 1930s fashion. Each cast member is perfect in his/her role. Harlow is softly beautiful and not brash the way she was in her earlier films. Though if you study her, you might think she wasn't trying, she manages to tear you apart without emoting too much. Tone is sophisticated and intelligent as always, but also much sweeter. Despite being cast opposite Grant who was very popular with female audience members, Tone is the one we're meant to fall in love with. Grant is more of a scoundrel, the type that every woman knows is bad for her.

The story definitely translates well to modern audiences. Hopefully it will see a DVD release soon.