Even after we've passed the centennial of her birth Jean Harlow is a star who folks still talk about. Her free and easy sexual image on the screen and her comedic talent set a standard for many a blond actress to achieve in film. One who burst on the screen in the 90s was Sharon Stone who narrates this work.
Sad to say that this particular documentary comes out more like a fan letter from Stone than a serious discussion of her work. I for one can see a bit of Harlow in some of Stone's film roles. Certainly by 1993 there were few enough of her contemporaries available for comment. But I'm agreeing that a film historian or two might have helped.
For better or worse Harlow's image and the story of the scandal of the suicide of Paul Bern her second husband was forever written in stone by the biography Irving Schulman did in the 60s and the two Harlow films made with Carroll Baker and Carol Lynley respectively. The Carpetbaggers Rina Marlowe character also Carroll Baker didn't help and that cemented her image for all time.
William Powell never did interviews after his retirement and he surely would have had something to say. The best comments on Harlow came from Rosalind Russell in her memoirs. She said that as a newcomer at MGM in the 30s the only actress who was truly friendly and kind to her was Jean Harlow, the rest saw her as a rival coming up. Too bad Russell was no longer available either.
Certainly a more serious discussion about Harlow and her image is warranted by a better documentary.
Sad to say that this particular documentary comes out more like a fan letter from Stone than a serious discussion of her work. I for one can see a bit of Harlow in some of Stone's film roles. Certainly by 1993 there were few enough of her contemporaries available for comment. But I'm agreeing that a film historian or two might have helped.
For better or worse Harlow's image and the story of the scandal of the suicide of Paul Bern her second husband was forever written in stone by the biography Irving Schulman did in the 60s and the two Harlow films made with Carroll Baker and Carol Lynley respectively. The Carpetbaggers Rina Marlowe character also Carroll Baker didn't help and that cemented her image for all time.
William Powell never did interviews after his retirement and he surely would have had something to say. The best comments on Harlow came from Rosalind Russell in her memoirs. She said that as a newcomer at MGM in the 30s the only actress who was truly friendly and kind to her was Jean Harlow, the rest saw her as a rival coming up. Too bad Russell was no longer available either.
Certainly a more serious discussion about Harlow and her image is warranted by a better documentary.