Product Description

A socialite heiress defeats a journalist in a competition for the attention of a frustrated playwright but when her lifestyle begins to stifle him the reporter comes to his rescue. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/22/2005 Starring: Jean Harlow Loretta Young Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Frank Capra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29327 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2003-11-04
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
This Frank Capra comedy from 1931 helped define the screwball-comedy genre that became so popular with films like It Happened One Night and The Awful Truth. In this witty romp, Jean Harlow plays an upper-crust socialite who bullies her reporter husband (Robert Williams) into conforming to her highfalutin ways. The husband chafes at the confinement of high society, though, and yearns for a creative outlet. He decides to write a play and collaborates with a fellow reporter (Loretta Young); the results are unexpectedly hilarious, especially when Young shows up at the mansion with a gaggle of boozehound reporters in tow. With snappy, ribald dialogue (allowable in those pre-Hays Code days), Capra keeps the gags flying fast and furious, taking special delight in having Williams's journalist pals rib him endlessly over his kept-man status. Platinum Blonde was a great success at the time of its release during the class-conscious Depression; for better or worse, its star Harlow was identified with the tag "platinum blonde" until her untimely death. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

Platinum Blonde
Any B&W fan will appreciate this film. I LOVED Robert Williams--I thought he was refreshingly original and had great chemistry with both of his female co-stars, two stunningly beautiful and very different women. The scene with the the song about the garters is priceless, and one of the sexiest scenes ever filmed(and there are many other breathtakingly sexy scenes as well). Although it should have been called "Cinderella Man", in captures it's time period in every way. I would have loved to see Robert Williams in other roles after this one, but he died very shortly after filming. You'll also love the scene where Stew follows Ann into the library! Don't miss this cool and sexy film.

The Best Actor You've Never Seen
Robert Williams doesn't even get any billing on the DVD cover or on other promotions of this film, but he IS the star of the film....and he is outstanding.

Williams could have been a major star, a very well-known actor, had he not died four days after this picture was released with a ruptured appendix. The man simply puts on an acting clinic here. I wonder if young aspiring actors are ever shown this film and told to study Williams? If is wasn't for this film, I assume nobody would ever know about this guy.

Anyway, the movie is really dated but its interesting thanks to some great dialog, mainly, once again, by Williams. Jean Harlow gets the billing but a young Loretta Young has the real beauty and charm here. Too bad her role was so minor and bland. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

The storyline is one of Hollywood's favorite themes: the average Joe beating up on the snobby rich people. Harlow's "mother" in here (Louise Closser Hale) plays that snob role perfectly.

Even though I gave it only three stars, there are lots of laughs in this film and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Watching Williams' acting performance is worth the price of the disc, and then some.

Now Nostalgic, But Still Surprisingly Fresh (3.5 stars)
Just 18-year-old Loretta Young comes off as a very talented young actress in this, now three-quarters-of-century old comedy. Her character, of which a viewer will never know her first name, is vulnerable and pretty, especially in her evening gown. No wonder that the journalist colleague (played by Robert Williams) has hard time after snubbing her for a rich platinum blonde. The great bit of nostalgia stems from the fact that Williams died later that year the movie was completed and Jean Harlow (the platinum blonde) died a few years later. Otherwise, it is a surprisingly fresh and lovable comedy (although you shouldn't expect too much), with somehow familiar music and a merit to the name of Frank Capra, who went on to become one of the greatest director Hollywood has ever produced.