Category Archives: Black and White

1930s, 1936, Black and White, Drama, E. E. Clive, Forsaking All Others, Frank Morgan, On the Set, Photos, Publicity Photos, Reginald Owen, Reviews, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Montgomery, Suicide Club, The Casino Murder Case, Trouble for Two

Trouble for Two (1936)

December 15, 2013 des 9 Comments

robert montgomery rosalind russell trouble for two — Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell in Trouble for Two (1936)

Adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson short story “Suicide Club,” Trouble for Two is the first time MGM paired Rosalind Russell with Robert Montgomery. Although she had a very small role in Montgomery’s film Forsaking All Others two years earlier, it can hardly count as a co-starring venture. This 1936 film is rather bizarre and it certainly is neither Rosalind’s nor Robert’s best film. That said, it is still an entertaining little gem (and I mean little because it is very short, only 74 minutes long).

Rosalind Russell once said in a 1943 Photoplay interview that this film was her worst (so far), but I am sure she was completely disregarding the fact that she had already made The Casino Murder Case. After all, she wrote in her book that she liked to pretend Casino didn’t even exist (Life is a Banquet, 65). As with several movies before this, one of the advantages was the wardrobe. The film takes place in the 19^th century, so she wore many lovely period costumes with some beautiful jewelry.

A simple star necklace is my favorite piece in the movie. Robert Montgomery had curly hair in this film, a far cry from his usually straight brown hair. He also sported a mustache, which I found took some getting used to. Roz wore her hair in cute little ringlets, which gave her a unique look.

Montgomery plays a crowned prince of the fictional Corovia. His name is Florizel and his father is the king, played by E. E. Clive. Colonel Geraldine (Frank Morgan at his usual comic best) is called upon to always keep an eye on Florizel because he sometimes thinks he can do whatever he pleases and needs to stay out of trouble.

rosalind russell frank morgan trouble for two — Rosalind Russell and Frank Morgan in Trouble for Two (1936)

When Florizel first makes his appearance, he is causing a ruckus in the palace with a group of friends while he stands on stilts in the middle of the room. Geraldine fetches him and brings him to his father, where they have a meeting about Florizel’s upcoming arranged nuptials to Princess Brenda of Irania.

Florizel is not keen on the idea and is amused when he discovers Princess Brenda feels the same way. She says of Florizel, “I will never buy a pig in the poke,” and has no intention of marrying him.

After the embarrassment this has caused for the royal family, the king sends his son off to London for a while (incognito, of course) with his chaperon, Geraldine. Florizel and Geraldine endure a dull boat ride to London under assumed names (Mr. Godall and Major Hammersmith, respectively).

frank morgan robert montgomery rosalind russell trouble for two — Frank Morgan, Robert Montgomery, and Rosalind Russell on the set of Trouble for Two (1936)

It is there that he meets a mysterious woman with dark eyes (Rosalind Russell) who would like him to help her (“a damsel in distress”) by taking possession of some papers that she says someone wants badly from her. He keeps them and when they dock in London, he intends to return them to her but cannot find a sign of her, and what’s more—the papers are completely blank. But she has captured his attention.

The next evening, the mysterious woman finds out where Florizel is dining and follows him there. Florizel meets a man at the café who is offering an enormous amount of cream tarts to everyone he meets. Florizel asks him what it is all about and he finds out that the man intends to end his life and he is having a last bit of fun before that happens. The man’s name is Mr. Barnley and he speaks of a secret “suicide club” in town, where you “choose to die, but not at your own hands.” In this morbid “game” of sorts, once you pay an admission to the club, each member draws a card from a deck. The person who draws the ace of spades is the one who is to die, and the person who draws the ace of clubs is the executioner.

rosalind russell trouble for two — Rosalind Russell in Trouble for Two (1936)

The three of them decide to go to this suicide club out of curiosity. Mystery Woman follows them there and it is revealed her name is Miss Vandeleur. She is the only woman in the club and becomes the “executioner” her first time there. She does not appear frightened about it and in fact always stares emotionless, which makes her even more of a mystery.

rosalind russell robert montgomery trouble for two — Rosalind Russell and Robert Montgomery in Trouble for Two (1936)

Mr. Barnley is the one to die and they disappear. The next morning, they find the death notice of Mr. Barnley in the paper and Florizel cannot believe she could do something like this.

Still curious, Florizel goes to the suicide club again and finds Miss Vandeleur there. This time, Florizel draws the ace of spades and once again, Miss Vandeleur draws the ace of clubs. They take a carriage ride into the woods and Florizel keeps asking her questions about herself and about what will take place.

She simply stares ahead, not allowing him to see any trace of emotion. In fact, when she informs him that he will be “torn to pieces” by lions, she says it with so much conviction and so apathetically that I find it difficult not to laugh. I’m just trying to imagine someone actually saying something so gruesome without even a line of worry in their face.

She is about to unlock the lion enclosure at the Malden Zoo when we suddenly see that she has feelings after all. She can’t do it and runs off crying. They suddenly find they are being followed by the president of the suicide club and flee to a local inn.

Florizel soon finds out Miss Vandeleur is in fact Princess Brenda when she says to him, “I refuse to buy a pig in a poke!” They laugh, but they know they are in trouble because they didn’t carry out the suicide club’s task. Florizel discovers he has been accused of treason by another Corovian, Dr. Noel.

It turns out that Dr. Noel is the president of the suicide club (Reginald Owen) and has been plotting to assassinate Florizel. Princess Brenda, who has now completed her mission of finding out if Florizel is a brave man, helps Florizel and Geraldine carry out a plan to trap Dr. Noel into a duel.

There is a magnificent fencing duel between the two, which ends in Dr. Noel falling backwards, defeated.

Florizel and Brenda get married as planned, but it is not quite the traditional arranged marriage. They have indeed fallen in love with each other and wink at each other, keeping the secret to themselves.

IMDb page for Trouble for Two

TCM overview for the film

Trailer of the film:

1930s, 1936, Black and White, Claudette Colbert, Nigel Bruce, Photos, Publicity Photos, Reviews, Ronald Colman, Under Two Flags, Victor McLaglen

Under Two Flags (1936)

December 8, 2013 des 3 Comments

rosalind russell ronald colman under two flags — Rosalind Russell and Ronald Colman in Under Two Flags

Rosalind Russell recounts a funny, although surely embarrassing story about movie kisses when working on Under Two Flags with Ronald Colman:

Then I kept on at Fox to do Under Two Flags with Ronald Colman. (It was another of my Lady Mary jobs; I never even got to meet Claudette, who played Cigarette.)

Colman sent white lilacs to my dressing room and invited me to tea in his bungalow.

rosalind russell under two flags — Rosalind Russell in Under Two Flags

It was exciting; he had a butler, and the tea was served by candlelight and Colman was very handsome and I was very nervous.

For our big scene together, two stages had been opened up to make one huge desert set, and I rode out into it on a horse. I had a fantastic outfit—a velvet cape in a glorious shade of blue, and orchid veiling, studded in little tiny rhinestones, across my face.

That getup was so flattering it would have turned Louise Fazenda into Hedy Lamarr, and if I say so myself, I didn’t look like anybody’s old radiator cap.

victor mclaglen rosalind russell under two flags — Rosalind Russell and Victor McLaglen in Under Two Flags

Ronnie and I were to meet by an oasis, a pool of water beside some old ruins. It was a beautiful set.

On I came riding sidesaddle, and when I pulled up, the director, Frank Lloyd, told Ronnie to take me off the horse.

Ronnie helped me to dismount.

“No, no, no, no,” the director said. “Slide her down your body.” Colman was a shy man, and he didn’t know me from a hot rock, but I climbed back on the horse and went out and came in again, diddyump, diddyump, ump, ump, charging toward the oasis, hoping to hit the marks with the damn horse.

ronald colman rosalind russell under two flags — Ronald Colman and Rosalind Russell in Under Two Flags

I dropped the reins, we had some more of that slide-her-down-your-body business, and finally I was off the animal, and Colman and I walked over to the pool in which our reflection was supposed to be caught, kissing.

He wouldn’t kiss me on the mouth. I kept trying to push my face around, but he just wouldn’t kiss me. Between takes I’d go in and swallow half a bottle of Listerine and spray myself with perfume. The scene went on and on. It started to get late; some of the crew were restless and beginning to giggle.

Finally the director said, “Maybe we’ll just have to put this off until tomorrow morning.”

Oh my God, I thought, I won’t sleep. By now I’m reeking of Arpege and mouthwash, and I’m desperate. I finally just grabbed Ronnie, clung to him, would not let him go, and kissed him until he was purple in the face and the director was yelling, “Cut! Cut! Cut!”

What I didn’t know was a) that a kiss full on the mouth doesn’t photograph as pleasingly as an off-center buss, and b) that they’d been doing a glass shot, a form of dissolve.

The camera wasn’t even on us most of the time, it was on the camels, the desert, the sun going down, the sun coming up again to indicate that we’ve spent the night together. Colman, of course, was aware of the camera (he knew cameras likes Wernher von Braun knows rockets), but all the time we were supposed to be standing apart making small talk—“How are you? How have you been?”—while they’re shooting the camels and the sunrise, he’s had this maniacal female clutching him to her fevered lips.

claudette colbert rosalind russell under two flags — Rosalind Russell and Claudette Colbert in Under Two Flags

He was very nice about it.

Under Two Flags is an adventure/romance starring Ronald Colman and Claudette Colbert. Although Rosalind Russell had done a couple leading roles, she was relegated back to support staff in this one. Most of the attention is on Colman and Colbert, of course. As written above, Russell was in another of her English “Lady Mary” roles, which I am sure she was growing tired of. Needless to say, this was the last time she would play such a role. Yes, she did play a few more rich American girls, but her days of snootily putting her nose in the air while speaking with an English accent were over.

ronald colman nigel bruce rosalind russell under two flags — Ronald Colman, Nigel Bruce, and Rosalind Russell in Under Two Flags

Although Under Two Flags is not the type of film that peaks my interest, for a film of its genre, it is a very good one. Another disclaimer I’d like to put out there is that I have never been a big fan of Claudette Colbert’s, so if any part of this review sounds disparaging concerning her, I do not mean to make it sound that way. I try my best to be as impartial a viewer as I can. Claudette Colbert plays a French girl living in Algeria named Cigarette. The name is laughable, but at the same time, it is somehow cute. My favorite part of her character is her feisty attitude, not to mention her French accent.

claudette colbert ronald colman under two flags — Claudette Colbert and Ronald Colman in Under Two Flags

She speaks English with a French accent in this film, and at times, actually speaks French and even sings in French in one scene. This was not difficult for her because Claudette was French, born in Paris.

Ronald Colman is an English soldier, staying there in Cigarette’s town. His name is Sergeant Victor and they first meet when he visits Cigarette’s café one night with some buddies. Their first meeting is off to a rough start when she spots him in the café and offers him a bottle of wine like she does with any other first-time patron.

When he refuses the wine and demands she bring him cognac, she is very insulted. Eventually, that feisty spirit of hers gets out and she wants him gone.

Also in the French Foreign Legion is Major Doyle (played by Victor McLaglen), who is in love with Cigarette. He often tells her of his feelings and she usually pretends she feels the same, even though she feels no love for him at all. Another character on hand is Captain Menzies, played by the always delightful Nigel Bruce. He is in only a few scenes, but he is memorable as always, especially with his funny British accent. We first meet him when Cigarette is trying to get him to bid on a horse for more than it’s worth. This culminates in a racing scene between Victor and Cigarette. Sgt. Victor wins the race and angry as all get out, without paying him her debt, she takes off on her horse in another direction.

Victor goes after her and they eventually fall off their horses somewhere in the middle of the desert. That day turns into night as they sit alone in the desert, and Cigarette’s hatred for Victor has miraculously turned to passionate love. Although Victor isn’t exactly making goo-goo eyes back at her, she assumes he feels the same way.

The next day, many in the French Foreign Legion, including Major Doyle and Sgt. Victor, meet the lovely and gracious Lady Venetia Cunningham (Rosalind Russell). It is not common for the men to see a pretty young lady, so it is a treat for them.

Major Doyle starts introducing her to the men in his legion, and she is taken aback by a little wooden horse figurine, which was created by Victor. She meets him, their eyes lock, and they both seem quite taken with each other. Victor has been homesick for his native England for some time and when he sees Venetia, he is intrigued. On the other hand, Major Doyle does not make an impression on her. She is a very proper English woman and one can tell she finds Doyle quite obnoxious, although she is always very polite.

Later that night, Lady Venetia is dancing with Major Doyle at an event, he stiff and emotionless; she poised and bored. When she spies Victor outside the building looking at her, she can’t take her eyes off him as she turns and turns in dance. Victor devises a plan to steal Venetia away from the party. He offers to show her the “real Africa” and she can’t resist. She is fascinated by the adventure they go on, particularly in watching the snake charmer. But what she is utterly fascinated by is Victor. She is infatuated with him. Meanwhile, Cigarette is sitting in her little room, crying, because Victor stood her up for a dinner in order to go off with Venetia.

After Venetia goes home later that evening, she changes her mind and suddenly appears in the desert, wanting to spend the rest of the night with Victor. She comes riding up to him on a camel, wearing a breathtakingly gorgeous jeweled veil over her face. If there’s one good thing about being Rosalind Russell’s character in this film, it’s the fact that they always managed to make her look very good. And yes, when I watch this scene of the sunset in the desert, I think of the “kiss gone wrong” story.

Cigarette finds out about their relationship and is very upset, even confronting Venetia that she will “never love him the way I do.” She knows that Major Doyle has sent Victor out into the desert to fight to the death and there is no way he will come back alive. It has become Doyle’s mission to do this to Victor once he discovered Cigarette’s feelings for him. However, Cigarette becomes the true hero when she goes out to fight in order to save Victor’s life. She does save him from death, but in a poignant scene, she dies in Victor’s arms. The film closes with a funeral scene as everyone salutes Cigarette’s brave efforts, including Victor, who is standing sadly, hand in hand with Venetia.

IMDB page for Under Two Flags

TCM overview of Under Two Flags

A fun clip from the film:

1930s, 1936, Anecdotes, Arline Judge, Black and White, Character, Drama, George Raft, Hollywood, IMDB, It Had to Happen, Leo Carrillo, Life is a Banquet, Photos, Publicity Photos, Reviews, TCM

It Had to Happen (1936)

November 24, 2013 des 1 Comment

Yippee! I have moved away from the year 1935 and will now continue this series with 1936, a year in which Rosalind Russell made 4 films. The first of those four is called It Had to Happen co-starring George Raft. Roz was known for being a practical joker in those days, whether they were pranks pulled on her co-stars or later on her own husband. While she was making this movie with Raft, they made a football bet. Her team lost and she had to pay up. So she did—by delivering a huge bag filled with pennies to his doorstep. Well, hey, as long as it added up to what she owed him, right?

When I watch It Had to Happen, the first thing I notice is the difference in height between the two stars (actually, lack thereof). George Raft was 5’7” and Rosalind Russell was about 5’8”. Throughout the film, it looks a little bit awkward that Roz is playing love scenes with a man who just wasn’t tall enough for her. In some scenes, I am almost sure he must be wearing lifts to seem a bit taller, although it doesn’t help his case much. But I am also not overly critical of this movie. I like it and enjoy it. I believe Rosalind and George got along with each other in real life and although it appeared awkward when they were dancing, the chemistry is not nonexistent.

The film opens on a ship going to the United States and Rosalind Russell, playing Beatrice Newnes, is shown being interviewed by scads of reporters. She is called “the richest girl in the world,” as farfetched as that sounds, and is constantly being questioned about who she will marry. She thinks it’s all fun and games as she smiles and answers their question while carrying her dog in her arms. However, when they ask her about a man named Rodman Drake, a man she left at the altar, she says emphatically, “That is a question I cannot answer,” and runs off. When she goes down into the steerage area, she meets Enrico Scaffa (George Raft) for the first time. She stands next to him as she tells the person in charge her information, and he stares at her the entire time without blinking. She doesn’t even notice and turns around, walking away, breaking her heel in the process. Enrico walks over and hands her the purse she left behind. He picks up her heel as well and a funny thing happens as she trips and falls, then he does the same and falls on top of her. Embarrassed, she quickly gets up and runs away from him. Clumsily, she has to keep picking up her things that she repeatedly drops along the way. This has to be mentioned because Rosalind Russell was known for her comedy skills. Maybe she wasn’t known for them at this point in her career, but as her skills were honed in small, subtle scenes like this, it is interesting to see how they blossomed as time passed.

Enrico and his pal Giuseppe Badjagaloupe (Leo Carrillo)are immigrants coming to the U.S. for the first time to get work. I must mention here that the spelling of Giuseppe’s supposedly Italian last name shows some ignorance in movies back then. I am no expert on the Italian language, but I do know that no Italian name would be spelled in this way. What they did was spell it the way it sounded to them. I have always found this strange and not very authentic. But you can’t always expect authenticity from a black and white film from 1936. Enrico and Giuseppe eventually get a job in construction. They make it a point to show that Enrico lets people walk all over them because he doesn’t like fights, but it doesn’t take long before the bullying American workers rile him up. By the time he and Giuseppe are working in construction and he is given the “honor” of holding up the red flag which stops traffic, he suddenly feels differently. It is also here that he meets Bea again. They haven’t seen each other since the boat, but he notices her and hands her the heel she dropped. Absolutely bowled over by the fact that he still had it with him, Bea explodes with peals of laughter. Rico yells at everyone who barks at him for stopping up traffic, including the mayor, who usually has special privileges. When Rico’s boss calls him a “dumb foreigner” for yelling at the mayor, Rico responds with a punch to the boss’s jaw. Now that Rico has been fired, the mayor snatches him and his pal up to work with him in politics, admiring Rico’s attitude. It doesn’t take long for Rico to become well known in politics as he keeps getting promoted and has a talent for getting important people out of trouble without doing anything illegal. He is an honest man and makes sure others know it.

Rico learns about a problem at a trust company where $4 million were embezzled out of the bank. The man behind this is Rodman Drake. Rico goes to his house, where he finds that the man has married Bea, the woman Rico has loved ever since he saw her on that boat. Bea recognizes him right away and acts very indifferently to him because he keeps showing up in her life. As she plays the piano in the living room, she keeps looking back at Rico, very wary of his presence. She soon learns what has happened at the company and that if Drake doesn’t give Rico the $4 million to put into the trust company himself, Drake will be indicted.

Back at Rico’s office, he has a secretary named Miss Sullivan (Arline Judge) who is clearly in love with her boss. However, she becomes jealous when Bea arrives at the office and she realizes Rico’s infatuation with her. After Bea promises Rico he will get the money to get her husband out of trouble, he constantly tries to ask her for a date, which she refuses each time. Finally, at the horse track, he bets her that if his horse wins the race, she has to go out with him. If her horse wins, he has to stop asking her. She agrees and after she excitedly sees her horse, Queen Anne, win, he sadly shakes her hand and with a tip of his hat, he takes his leave. Before he knows it, that evening, Bea has shown up at his apartment. Feeling sorry for him, she asks him out on a date herself. They go out on the town, dancing and drinking champagne all night. The date ends with them sitting outside, looking at the moon, which Bea swears there are two of (too much champagne). When she gets home from the date, she realizes she is in love with him. She also finds her husband has come home again after being away in Cuba, running away from the scandal he is caught up in. She tells him she wants a divorce because she is in love with another man. He refuses and she relents, telling Rico she needs to stay with her husband because he doesn’t have anyone else or any prospects.

However, Bea can’t stay away from Rico and eventually agrees to marry him after she has divorced her current husband. But when a group of crooked men start to make it look like Rico stole the $4 million from the trust company, he is suddenly in big trouble. By his lawyer’s advice, he decides to flee to Canada for a while and he wants Bea to come with him. She refuses to go anywhere with him, saying he is doing exactly what her husband did. She tells him, “I thought I fell in love with a man. Sorry. My mistake.” This is a brutal blow to any male’s ego and Rico goes to the hearing and tells them exactly what happened—that he did everything honestly and only so the stockholders at the bank won’t lose their money because of some crooked man like Rodman Drake. The judge understands that Rico has caused no harm and lets him go. Rico immediately runs over to Bea’s apartment, bursts into her bedroom, and pulls her out of bed, yelling at her that she will love him and marry him. It is almost as if he is ordering her to do so and surprisingly enough, she likes this kind of treatment and smiles at him as he tells her to kiss him… and again… and again.

This is a fairly good romance even if there some things that I found ridiculous. It is definitely worth a watch, especially for Rosalind Russell fans because this is one of her more rare movies.

IMDB page for It Had to Happen

TCM overview of the film

1930s, 1935, Black and White, C. Aubrey Smith, China Seas, Clark Gable, Edward Brophy, Jean Harlow, Lillian Bond, Reviews, Robert Benchley, Soo Yong, Wallace Beery

China Seas (1935)

November 11, 2013 des 1 Comment

Romance. Action. Melodrama. Torture. Death. Combine these things together and it spells out “China Seas,” a film from 1935. This is another one of those “Lady Mary” roles Rosalind Russell was already beginning to tire of. She once wrote, “I was always taking Clark Gable or Bob Montgomery away from Jean Harlow or Joan Crawford. Temporarily. It was ludicrous” (Life is a Banquet).

clark gable rosalind russell c. aubrey smith jean harlow china seas — Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, C. Aubrey Smith, and Jean Harlow

This was one of those occasions—this time Clark Gable from Jean Harlow. Rosalind played a rich English woman named Sybil Barkley, but Mr. Barkley is now dead and she is a widow, following an old flame of hers, played by Clark Gable, on the boat of which he is captain.

The film opens on the boat which will sail the China seas, like the title suggests. The voyage will be starting soon, but the captain is not yet on board. Without him around to hear, a few of the workers express their disdain for him and how he will probably arrive, hung over and grumpy. He does finally arrive and his crew could not be more correct about his attitude. It is in the opening scene where we meet some colorful characters played competently by great character actors. One is C. Aubrey Smith, who plays Sir Guy, an old (also grumpy) man who owns the line of China seas ships and tries to watch over Captain Alan Gaskell (Clark Gable). Also along for the ride are passengers such as constantly soused writer McCaleb (played hilariously by dependable Robert Benchley) and Timmons (Edward Brophy), the gap-toothed, New York accented man married to a beautiful girl (Lillian Bond), who seems to have some tricks up her sleeve.

clark gable jean harlow wallace beery china seas — Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Wallace Beery

Also, there is Dudley Digges, who plays Dawson, a crew man who is always drinking before he gets to work, and who is constantly being chastised by his captain for doing so or for having chewing tobacco in his mouth. Lewis Stone plays a rather withdrawn man named Davids, who has a bad reputation of being a coward while working on a ship. Finally, among this seemingly large cast are two of the leads, Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery. Jean Harlow plays a brassy, uneducated, buxom blonde named China Doll (or Dolly) who was involved with Captain Gaskell at one time, and still can’t get him off her mind. Wallace Beery plays Jamesy MacArdle, a criminal who is in cahoots with pirates and wants to attempt to take gold that he is sure is on the ship. Beery also exhibits a slight Irish accent in his role, which is interesting.

rosalind russell china seas — Rosalind Russell

Shortly before the ship is about to take off, a classy British woman comes aboard. It’s Sybil and Gaskell is almost bowled over that she has materialized before him. He was in love with her some years ago, but could never act on it because she was married. However, he knows that she is now a widow and suddenly has stars in his eyes. She mentions to him that she “is now in his hands” and his temperament soon changes after their meeting. The voyage has started and Dolly, forever without shame, bursts into Gaskell’s compartment and mentions the “English dame” she saw him talking to. She is jealous of any woman he makes eyes at and Sybil is certainly no exception. She describes Sybil as looking like she was “smelling a dead fish or something.” Gaskell laughs it off as a joke and later that night, they all sit at a big table to have dinner and Dolly is envious of Sybil because she is allowed to sit next to Gaskell by the head of the table.

rosalind russell clark gable china seas — Rosalind Russell and Clark Gable

Sybil has very polished manners and appears to be charming Gaskell into making “goo-goo eyes” at her… or so it seems to Dolly. And Dolly’s green-eyed monster shows its true colors when she interrupts Sybil as she is talking about her native England with another wealthy, worldly woman named Miss Yu Lan (played by Soo Yong). Dolly starts in with her loud, obtrusive voice, making a mockery of English society women like Sybil and even pretends to put a monocle over her eye, thinking that sums up dull English women in a nutshell. Sybil simply smiles at her and tells Dolly that she must really be in love with Alan if she is willing to humiliate herself that way. She excuses herself and Gaskell glares at Dolly, having had enough of her embarrassing him with stories of his darkest moments.

soo yong rosalind russell china seas — Soo Yong and Rosalind Russell

When Dolly goes to Gaskell’s cabin to apologize for her behavior the night before, she tells him maybe there aren’t enough male versions of Sybil to go around. He responds by saying, “The real trouble is there aren’t enough female Mrs. Barkleys.” Although Harlow is a major scene stealer in this film and is constantly barking at Clark Gable, who barks back just as loudly, something great going for Roz is her costumes (again). She wears beautiful gowns that appear to be mostly white, although it is hard to tell in black and white. They are expensive-looking, very lovely, and could not make her stand out more. A personal favorite of mine is the adorable polka dot number she wears the day after the eventful dinner. It is important to note how excited Sybil is to be on the ship and how she seems almost itching to see a dangerous storm or something of that magnitude to take over the ship.

jean harlow wallace beery rosalind russell clark gable c. aubrey smith soo yong — Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russell, Clark Gable, C. Aubrey Smith, and Soo Yong

After Gaskell and Sybil decide they will get married when they get to Singapore, a storm just like Sybil had heard about begins to brew. It causes chaos and tragedy as large objects move from one side of the ship to the other. Gaskell even saves a little girl from being crushed by a piano that was barreling toward her. On the dock, there are steam rollers that horrifyingly crush a few of the men aboard. And the horror doesn’t stop there. Soon after the storm, the ship is taken over by pirates with whom Jamesy is working. They are sure there is gold aboard, so they torture Gaskell with the “Malay boot” in order to pry information from him. The Malay Boot is an ancient torture device that was put around the victim’s foot and as they are being tortured, the spikes or iron vises inside would put pressure on the foot, crushing it if enough was applied.

clark gable rosalind russell china seas — Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell

Naturally, Gaskell constantly passes out from the pain until Jamesy decides he doesn’t know anything about the gold because no man could possibly be that tough. Meanwhile, Dolly has been forced to work with Jamesy after she accidentally finds out what he is up to. She gets him the key to the arsenal so that the pirates can take over the ship.

The next day, the pirates have been overcome by the ship’s crew, especially Davids, who risked his life (contrary to his reputation) by setting off a bomb near some pirates. Gaskell is using a cane to get around on his bandaged foot. Dolly doesn’t want Gaskell to get into any trouble and tells him that “When a woman can love a man right down to her fingertips, she can hate him the same way,” even though both Gaskell and the audience know that she can only love him.

When Sybil makes her sudden reappearance, it is only to be told that he can’t marry her. Not only does he not want to involve Sybil in the scandal, but a house in Sussex is not really for him and he could not possibly love any woman more than he does Dolly. Referring to Jamesy’s previous line about no man possibly being that tough, Alan Gaskell in fact is. There was gold on the ship, but it was hidden in the steamroller, and he never let it slip while being tortured.

This is a very good film just chock full of so many different genres and such a large cast, each individual character having their own story. I would recommend it to anyone, especially to Clark Gable and Jean Harlow fans. They are at their best in this film and it is rather thrilling to watch them scream at each other as only Clark Gable and Jean Harlow could.

clark gable jean harlow china seas — Clark Gable and Jean Harlow

IMDB page for China Seas

TCM overview of China Seas

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Reckless (1935)

November 3, 2013 des 4 Comments

“My word, I thought, a ten- or eleven-year-old having that bright red polish put on, and suddenly the hood of the dryer went back and the child stood up and it was Jean. She was probably twenty-three at the time, but without any makeup and no eyebrows, she looked exactly like a little kid,” Rosalind Russell wrote of her Reckless co-star, Jean Harlow. Russell and Harlow became friends in the short time they knew each other, but Rosalind was often called upon to get Jean out of jams, such as dragging her out of bars before she got herself into real trouble. Rosalind described Jean as a very sad girl, and it was certainly devastating to all when her life was suddenly taken from her at the tender age of 26.

rosalind russell jean harlow reckless — Rosalind Russell and Jean Harlow in Reckless (1935)

When Roz made Reckless with Jean Harlow, it was the year 1935 and she was still stuck in rather limited supporting roles. However, she got to work with two great stars in this one—Jean Harlow and William Powell. These two were in love with each other at the time and Jean was very excited to finally make a film with her beloved. Unfortunately, this film is a bit of a clunker and wasn’t the success they wanted it to be. Also along for the ride is Franchot Tone, who, unlike his usual characters, is a boozing jerk in this one. The actor was not very charismatic, but he got the job done.

The true star of Reckless is clearly Jean Harlow. She plays Mona, a singer and dancer who was a thorough professional, but sometimes got herself into trouble. Ned, played by William Powell, is an old friend of the family’s and is often called upon to help Mona out.

rosalind russell reckless — Rosalind Russell in Reckless (1935)

He is a sports promoter and as Mona’s grandmother (May Robson) says, Ned is “like a great big brother to Mona.” After Mona is jailed for reckless (just like the title) driving, he gets her out in time for a benefit performance, but he fixes it so she has to return to jail after she is done. The benefit is for a faux group called SAML (Society for the Admiration of Mona Leslie). Bob Harrison (Franchot Tone), drunk as all get out, has rented the entire theater just so Mona can perform for him. This movie gets its name from the song sung by Mona called “Reckless,” which is the first song she sings, and then reprises in the final scene. Jean Harlow’s singing is dubbed and she clearly does not do her own dancing, either. This is apparent because when Jean dances, you can only see the top half of her body, and then when the dancing legs are shown, it is filmed from such a distance, it could be anyone’s uncle in a platinum blonde wig.

Next we get to the story of how Ned has been in love with Mona for a while, but she never takes him seriously as anyone but a “great big brother,” so he does not know how to tell her.

At one point, he gets up the nerve to finally tell her that he loves her and wants to marry her, but feels foolish when he sees that Mona has fallen asleep during his heartfelt speech. He decides to forget the whole thing, thinking he dodged a bullet. However, even with this in mind, he buys a ring for Mona and plans to give it to her, but changes his mind when he realizes Mona has fallen in love with Bob. Soon after this, Mona and Bob suddenly elope while quite tipsy. Ned becomes so distraught by the news that he goes into a downward drunken spiral that night. Even Bob, who was there at the wedding, does not seem to realize what he has done and seems to regret it immediately. Mona has no regrets because she loves Bob very much. They are overwhelmed with telegrams that morning, two of them standing out. One is from Jo Mercer, his former fiancée, who says it’s all right with her. The other is a very disapproving one from his father who wants to talk to him right away. And so they go to Harrison, the town named after Bob’s father and where he grew up. His father, played by Henry Stephenson, is very ashamed of his son for marrying a “showgirl” when he has the family name and reputation to think of. Meanwhile, Mona ends up by a river and meets a girl who is fishing there. The girl teaches her how to cast, but Mona laments that she is better at “fishing for jobs.”

The girl says her name is Jo Mercer (Rosalind Russell) and Mona immediately realizes who she is. Jo does not seem to blame Mona at all for breaking her engagement, but Bob instead. After all, Mona didn’t know Jo existed before they got married. Soon after, everyone (Ned, Mona, Bob, Jo, and some other friends) are at the horse races and Jo announces that she is getting married. She also makes sure to glance over at Bob to gauge his reaction. Naturally, he looks rather upset. At Jo’s wedding, Bob proceeds to get smashing drunk and Jo confronts him about his behavior. At first, she jokes about how she felt she was “getting on in years” and decided to marry the first man who came along. This joking manner quickly turns to anger when she feels he is insulting his wife, Mona. Mona happens to be walking by when he tells Jo that Mona “trapped” him into marriage, keeping him away from the girl he really loves (Jo).

jean harlow william powell rosalind russell reckless — Jean Harlow, William Powell, and Rosalind Russell in Reckless (1935)

This is heartbreaking for Mona and although she is coerced into putting on a show for everyone, she has tears in her eyes as she sings and dances.

What happens next is tragic. Bob doesn’t feel he can live with himself any longer and shoots himself in his bedroom. This opens up a horrific scandal for Mona, as she is pregnant and subsequently gives birth to an adorable baby boy. Mr. Harrison, Bob’s father, tries to gain custody of the child by alleging that it is Mona’s fault that his son is dead and that Mona is an unfit mother, being a “show person.” He does not get her child, but in the end, she gives a performance to revive her sagging career caused by the bad publicity. Although Jo is there fully supporting her like a friend would do, once Mona starts singing, people in the audience start hissing, booing, and trying to disrupt her performance.

No longer able to stand it, Mona shouts at them, “How dare you! How do you dare?” In a moving speech, she tells them that what happened is no more her fault than anyone else’s, that Bob was a sad man always drowning himself in sorrow, and that the audience should not be rude and interrupt her performance. As she sings her signature song, Ned proposes to her again. As everyone applauds, she takes his hand, signifying “yes” to him.

Rosalind does not even appear in the film until almost 50 minutes after it starts. And since the movie is a bit bland, it is a long wait for any Roz fan. I try to console myself with the fact that I am watching two great stars in their prime—Jean Harlow and William Powell—but the movie falls flat. However, there is something that makes Roz stand out in this film, and that is her costumes, particularly her wedding dress.

leon ames rosalind russell reckless — Leon Ames and Rosalind Russell in Reckless (1935)

It is a beautiful creation by Adrian and it flows gorgeously behind her as she walks down the aisle. It is nice to see a real life couple in a movie in which they end up together, but it is a shame that it wasn’t very well executed and has a mediocre script. I give the film 3 stars out of 5.

IMDB page for Reckless

TCM overview for Reckless