Personal Property (1937)

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

H.M. Harwood (play)
Hugh Mills (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 March 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Robert Dabney returns to his family after trouble with the law. The sheriff gets him a job watching the house and furniture of widow Crystal Wetherby.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | London England | Lingerie | Family Relationships | Butler

Cast

Jean Harlow	...	Crystal Wetherby
Robert Taylor	...	Raymond Dabney aka Ferguson
Reginald Owen	...	Claude Dabney
Una O'Connor	...	Clara, Crystal's Maid
Henrietta Crosman	...	Mrs. Cosgrove Dabney
E.E. Clive	...	Cosgrove Dabney
Cora Witherspoon	...	Mrs. Burns
Marla Shelton	...	Catherine Burns
Forrester Harvey	...	Herbert Jenkins, Bailiff
Lionel Braham	...	Lord Carstairs
Barnett Parker	...	Arthur 'Trevy' Trevelyan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Melville Cooper	...	(scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

The Man in Possession

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #3083) | Australia:G

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Throughout the film, Jean wears a star sapphire ring, a sort of engagement ring from her boyfriend William Powell.

Quotes:

Crystal Wetherby: And while we're asking so many questions, why were YOU sent to jail?
Raymond Dabney: Murder.
Crystal Wetherby: I wish it had been suicide!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Wedding March

Finding Love When You Look For Money

Personal Property was the last completed film of Jean Harlow and the only one she was teamed with Robert Taylor. She's an American married to an Englishman who died and left nothing to her, but debts. She's got bill collectors beating down her door.

She figures an upper class accent is a guarantee of security, but tain't so Jean. She's set to marry Reginald Owen, who's family has a title, but little else. Their business has suffered some reversals and they need some quick capital themselves.

Before this double calamity takes place, along comes Robert Taylor who is a black sheep in Reginald Owen's family as his younger brother. Through an incredible comedy of errors he winds up Harlow's bill collector and later butler.

It's not a bad film, Harlow is great, she was sparkling and delightful and no trace of the illness that would claim her life while filming her last picture Saratoga.

Taylor is oddly miscast though. I'm sure this was a part that was originally intended for Franchot Tone and he would have had just the right upper class touch. Taylor handles the comedy well, but Tone or Cary Grant would have made the film a classic.

In fact Taylor's part and some of the film premise you can also find in My Man Godfrey with William Powell without the social commentary.

Film buffs should see it for a once in a lifetime pairing.