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Hold Your Man (1933)
Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Hold Your Man (1933)
August 6, 2011 - 7:30 pm
In-person: 
authors Darrell Rooney and Mark A. Vieira, who will sign copies of "Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928-1937."

Hold Your Man (1933)

Directed by Sam Wood

Harlow’s Miss Ruby Adams, a woman not above a con game herself, falls in love with a small time hoodlum, played by Gable. When he accidentally kills a man, she takes the fall for him, even though both have been shown to be cynical, world-weary characters. Anita Loos delivers another witty, screwball script, particularly evident in the bitchy exchanges between Harlow and Dorothy Burgess. However, the film ends-up going a bit soft, a sign of the growing power of self-appointed civic censors to influence studio policy.

MGM. Screenwriter: Anita Loos. Cinematographer: Harold Rosson. Editor: Frank Sullivan. Cast: Jean Harlow, Clark Gable.

35mm, b/w, 87 min.

Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Directed by Jack Conway

Originally conceived as a project for Greta Garbo, this film features a woman who, like Barbara Stanwyck’s Baby Face, has no morals other than to use her body against influential men to move up the social ladder. Coming from the wrong side of the tracks, Lil “Red” Andrews first animates her wealthy but weak boss to leave his wife and marry her; she then moves quickly on to another, well-healed businessman. No airhead blonde, Jean Harlow’s vulgar but highly erotic gold-digger knows exactly what she wants and how to get it, thanks to Anita Loos’ wise-cracking script. 

MGM. Producer: Albert Lewin. Screenwriter: Anita Loos, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Cinematographer: Harold Rosson. Editor: Blanche Sewell. Cast: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone.

35mm, b/w, 79 min.