Within the first fifteen minutes I found myself detesting this movie. It was such a stale and overused plot for that era. They shoved damn near every romance trope into this one:
Woman stating she would never marry for love.
Adversarial beginning.
Rich boy, poor girl.
Change of heart.
Misunderstanding leading to break up.
A disapproving family.
The only thing they were missing was a love triangle.
The girl from Missouri in this monstrosity was Eadie Chapman (Jean Harlow). She left her small town to go to New York and marry a millionaire. As she put it, "I realized when I was a girl that the only right thing for a girl to do is get married." So, she would marry a millionaire instead of marrying for love because what would love get her except a bunch of kids in a Brooklyn flat.
Right away it was shaping up to be typical and a tad offensive. How many are the movies in which a person declares that they won't fall in love, won't get married, or won't ever date only to fall in love, get married, and/or date. It's the worst type of foreshadowing.
When Eadie got to New York she joined the chorus line. That was one of the best ways to get close to rich men. The first man in her sights was Frank Cousins (Lewis Stone). Frank Cousins was supposed to be a millionaire, but what she didn't know was that he was flat broke. After he killed himself she moved on to Thomas Randall 'T. R.' Paige (Lionel Barrymore). He was legitimately rich. She hounded him like an uncouth, shameless gold digger would. She showed up everywhere he was. She even traveled to Palm Beach because she found out he was going there.
In Palm Beach she encountered Thomas Paige Jr. (Franchot Tone) and he wanted her badly--so badly that he blackmailed her into a date. He thought he knew what kind of girl she was and he was all over her.
As she was hollering about wanting to marry a rich man he grabbed her and kissed her (standard 30's behavior for a man who desired a woman). I almost feel bad because I'm becoming desensitized to such behavior. There was a time when such a thing shocked me. "How dare he!" I would think. "That's sexual harassment!" But the truth is that what is sexual harassment today was a guy being bold and persistent yesteryear. What is a fireable or jailable offense today was considered commendable in days past. It was a man knowing what he wanted and taking what he wanted. It was all part of the courting game. The woman would either wilt with the kiss or pull away apologetically. If she pulled away apologetically it was simply a sign letting the man know that she wasn't easy, not that she didn't want to be kissed. If she truly didn't want to be kissed she would slap the man and/or storm out. But even a slap and a storm-out wasn't a hard no, it was just a no for now.
Or so Hollywood writers would have you believe.
Junior wouldn't stop his pursuit of Eadie. It escalated to stalking and even false imprisonment. He tried every move he had with her, even buying her a diamond bracelet. He was begging to be taken advantage of so long as he could get the goods. When nothing worked he locked her in his room with himself. Pepe Le Pew was less aggressive. I'm sure a certain R&B artist rhyming with R. Smelly and a certain Hollywood exec rhyming with Starvey Slimesteen would have watched this with great alacrity.
After Eadie huffed and puffed and yelled to be let go he kissed her again. This time he read her right. This kiss was the one to make her wilt. Against her wishes she began to crumble. Then she had to admit: she was in love. I was as shocked as a polar bear seeing snow.
"I love you so much Tom. You can make me cheap and common like a million others, but gee I wish you wouldn't," she pleaded with him. She was now putty in his hands and she only wished that he would treat her with respect, though she carried herself in a most disrespectful manner.
Naturally, he came to his senses. All of the rejecting and rebuffing before meant nothing. It wasn't to be heeded. But when she broke down and expressed her heartfelt love, Tom stopped being predatory and began to love her as well.
There you go ladies. To fight off a rapey dude just tell him how much you love him. You never know, he may love you as well.
This gold digger who found love (and gold) is just too trite. It's a basic and unimaginative premise that was already old in 1934. Rerunning it with Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone didn't make it special.
Jean Harlow is simply a painted face with exaggeratedly blond hair and gauche, just like this movie. Franchot Tone was a plastic playboy who could've been any good looking man. There was nothing unique, compelling, or likable about this flick. I know we're supposed to melt when the unscrupulous person turns good, especially when they fall in love, but the movie never drew me in to begin with. It was another frivolous society flick that tried to dazzle instead of trying to be good.
$3.59 on Amazon Prime.
Woman stating she would never marry for love.
Adversarial beginning.
Rich boy, poor girl.
Change of heart.
Misunderstanding leading to break up.
A disapproving family.
The only thing they were missing was a love triangle.
The girl from Missouri in this monstrosity was Eadie Chapman (Jean Harlow). She left her small town to go to New York and marry a millionaire. As she put it, "I realized when I was a girl that the only right thing for a girl to do is get married." So, she would marry a millionaire instead of marrying for love because what would love get her except a bunch of kids in a Brooklyn flat.
Right away it was shaping up to be typical and a tad offensive. How many are the movies in which a person declares that they won't fall in love, won't get married, or won't ever date only to fall in love, get married, and/or date. It's the worst type of foreshadowing.
When Eadie got to New York she joined the chorus line. That was one of the best ways to get close to rich men. The first man in her sights was Frank Cousins (Lewis Stone). Frank Cousins was supposed to be a millionaire, but what she didn't know was that he was flat broke. After he killed himself she moved on to Thomas Randall 'T. R.' Paige (Lionel Barrymore). He was legitimately rich. She hounded him like an uncouth, shameless gold digger would. She showed up everywhere he was. She even traveled to Palm Beach because she found out he was going there.
In Palm Beach she encountered Thomas Paige Jr. (Franchot Tone) and he wanted her badly--so badly that he blackmailed her into a date. He thought he knew what kind of girl she was and he was all over her.
As she was hollering about wanting to marry a rich man he grabbed her and kissed her (standard 30's behavior for a man who desired a woman). I almost feel bad because I'm becoming desensitized to such behavior. There was a time when such a thing shocked me. "How dare he!" I would think. "That's sexual harassment!" But the truth is that what is sexual harassment today was a guy being bold and persistent yesteryear. What is a fireable or jailable offense today was considered commendable in days past. It was a man knowing what he wanted and taking what he wanted. It was all part of the courting game. The woman would either wilt with the kiss or pull away apologetically. If she pulled away apologetically it was simply a sign letting the man know that she wasn't easy, not that she didn't want to be kissed. If she truly didn't want to be kissed she would slap the man and/or storm out. But even a slap and a storm-out wasn't a hard no, it was just a no for now.
Or so Hollywood writers would have you believe.
Junior wouldn't stop his pursuit of Eadie. It escalated to stalking and even false imprisonment. He tried every move he had with her, even buying her a diamond bracelet. He was begging to be taken advantage of so long as he could get the goods. When nothing worked he locked her in his room with himself. Pepe Le Pew was less aggressive. I'm sure a certain R&B artist rhyming with R. Smelly and a certain Hollywood exec rhyming with Starvey Slimesteen would have watched this with great alacrity.
After Eadie huffed and puffed and yelled to be let go he kissed her again. This time he read her right. This kiss was the one to make her wilt. Against her wishes she began to crumble. Then she had to admit: she was in love. I was as shocked as a polar bear seeing snow.
"I love you so much Tom. You can make me cheap and common like a million others, but gee I wish you wouldn't," she pleaded with him. She was now putty in his hands and she only wished that he would treat her with respect, though she carried herself in a most disrespectful manner.
Naturally, he came to his senses. All of the rejecting and rebuffing before meant nothing. It wasn't to be heeded. But when she broke down and expressed her heartfelt love, Tom stopped being predatory and began to love her as well.
There you go ladies. To fight off a rapey dude just tell him how much you love him. You never know, he may love you as well.
This gold digger who found love (and gold) is just too trite. It's a basic and unimaginative premise that was already old in 1934. Rerunning it with Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone didn't make it special.
Jean Harlow is simply a painted face with exaggeratedly blond hair and gauche, just like this movie. Franchot Tone was a plastic playboy who could've been any good looking man. There was nothing unique, compelling, or likable about this flick. I know we're supposed to melt when the unscrupulous person turns good, especially when they fall in love, but the movie never drew me in to begin with. It was another frivolous society flick that tried to dazzle instead of trying to be good.
$3.59 on Amazon Prime.