There, there…just put it out of your mind. Just put it out of your mind that Joseph E. Levine's Harlow will actually have anything whatsoever to do with the life and career of Jean Harlow, the 1930s MGM star and Hollywood's first "blonde bombshell." Don't worry your little head over anything even tangentially redolent of the '30s seeping in to corrode the assertively mid-'60s vibe and aesthetics of this lacquered, $2.5 million soap opera. Dispense with all hope of accuracy—from made-up names to fabricated events, Harlow is an absolute work of fiction. Don't look for logic—Jean Harlow looks exactly the same AFTER her Hollywood glamour makeover as she did when we first meet her as a struggling dress extra. Don't pay any attention to physics—Harlow and her mother appear to be roughly about the same age. And don't search for credibility—Red Buttons plays a near-mythical character: a "Hollywood agent from Mars" of such ludicrous selfless, principled devotion and honesty he makes the denizens of Hogwarts look plausible by comparison.
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| The question you'll be asking yourself as the movie's end credits roll |
No, Harlow is a market-driven exercise in expediency and exploitation. A movie as artless and willfully artificial as a Dacron® polyester housecoat. Its purpose is neither to pay homage to its titular subject, nor to say anything meaningful about fame, the film industry, or even recognizable human psychology. It is, pure and simple, an act of commerce. A product designed to capitalize on the popularity of Irving Shulman's sleazy 1964 bestseller Harlow: an Intimate Biography, and a project divined as yet another bid in the campaign waged by producer Joseph E. Levine to sell protégé Carroll Baker to the public as successor to the Marilyn Monroe sex symbol throne (Monroe died in 1962).
Over the years, I've found that by accepting Harlow for what it is—a slick, schlock titillation package with no bearing on Hollywood, history, or even reality as we know it—I am then free to get down to the important business at hand: joyfully reveling in Harlow as a campy, satin-covered, marvelously misguided, miscast, multi-million dollar mistake.
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| Carroll Baker as Jean Harlow |
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| Red Buttons as Arthur Landau |
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| Angels Lansbury as Mama Jean Bello |
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| Peter Lawford as Paul Bern |
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| Mike Connors as Jack Harrison |
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| Martin Balsam as Everett Redman, head of Majestic Pictures |
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| Leslie Nielsen as Richard Manley |
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| Raf Vallone as Marino Bello |
For those genuinely interested in the fascinating and brief life of Jean
Harlow (she died at age 26 of uremic poisoning), there are several books available that provide a more fact-based
overview of the actress' career than Shulman's largely discredited work of biographical
fiction. The internet offers a wealth of information in the form of written profiles and video documentaries available on YouTube. But better yet, just check out any
one of Jean Harlow's feature films (my favorite, Dinner
at Eight) if you want to get a sense of Harlow's unique brand of star quality, and appreciate how she was more persuasive as a gifted light comedienne
than a sex goddess.
Look anywhere but to Joseph E.
Levine's expensive-but-cheap-looking rush job, filmed at a careless, breakneck
speed in an (unsuccessful) attempt to beat a low-budget rival Harlow film to
the boxoffice in 1965. (The 2011 book, Dueling
Harlows by Tom Lisanti, details how Levine chopped months off of his own film's
pre-production schedule when made aware of an independent studio's plans to release
a Harlow movie starring sound-alike actress Carol Lynley, and utilizing an
inexpensive television-based technology [saddled with the William Castle-esque
name of "Electronovision"] requiring no more than an eight-day shooting
schedule.)
Truth be told, when it comes to Joseph E. Levine's Harlow, those unfamiliar with the actual life and personage of Jean Harlow will find themselves at a distinct advantage. The movie is a wholesale work of inaccuracy, gossip, and time-tripping anachronisms; the less one knows (especially pertaining to how people dressed and looked in the '20s and '30s), the better. But while Harlow is valueless as historical biography, it's fairly priceless as a laugh-out-loud comedy of the absurd. A shining, overlit example of that uniquely '60s brand of glossy, overwrought melodrama mixed with tentative sleaze. Harlow promised to salaciously blow the lid off the many myths surrounding the life of the silver screen goddess. Yet, little did audiences suspect that the film's taunting tagline: "What was Harlow really like?" was really a literal, non-rhetorical imploration posed by the screenwriter and producer to anyone within earshot.
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| According to Carroll Baker, filming on Harlow began without a completed script. During filming, a feud erupted between Baker and Levine resulting in the termination of her six-picture deal with his Embassy Pictures. An act that led to her suing the producer (and winning) for breach of contract. Levine's revenge was to have a shrill witch of a character named Cheryl Barker--modeled to look just like Baker--appear in his film next film, The Oscar |
Truth be told, when it comes to Joseph E. Levine's Harlow, those unfamiliar with the actual life and personage of Jean Harlow will find themselves at a distinct advantage. The movie is a wholesale work of inaccuracy, gossip, and time-tripping anachronisms; the less one knows (especially pertaining to how people dressed and looked in the '20s and '30s), the better. But while Harlow is valueless as historical biography, it's fairly priceless as a laugh-out-loud comedy of the absurd. A shining, overlit example of that uniquely '60s brand of glossy, overwrought melodrama mixed with tentative sleaze. Harlow promised to salaciously blow the lid off the many myths surrounding the life of the silver screen goddess. Yet, little did audiences suspect that the film's taunting tagline: "What was Harlow really like?" was really a literal, non-rhetorical imploration posed by the screenwriter and producer to anyone within earshot.
The best way to enjoy Harlow is to ignore its allusions to reality and perhaps see it as a show business parable, the second entry, if you will, in Joseph E. Levine's unofficial "Hollywood as Cesspool" trilogy: The Carpetbaggers (1964), Harlow (1965), and The Oscar (1966).
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As evidence of Harlow's hurried production schedule, note the crewmember captured in the marbled glass in the second screencap above. In her 1983 memoir Baby Doll, Carroll Baker recounts tales of filming being so rushed on Harlow that there was no time for rehearsals, the script was being written as they went along, and, barring any major technical gaffes, the printing of first takes was the norm.
It shows! It shows!
The plot, such as it is, is summed up by the man who discovers Harlow, the only man who sees her as a talent and not a piece of tail--the saintly talent agent Arthur Landau (whose portrayal as a paragon of virtue can be attributed to his being the main information source for Shulman's book). He tells the wannabe star, "You're the sweet, beautiful girl next door. But on fire inside."
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILM
Anyone familiar with my twisted taste in movies knows that every complaint fired at a film like Harlow is actually a valentine. Bad movies are made all the time, but it's a special kind of art to make a watchable lousy movie. And for me, Harlow is a bad movie classic. It's so gonzo in its half-baked, "1930s as filtered through a 1960s prism" sensibilities; it reminds me that they just don't make 'em like this anymore. I love every hair on Carroll Baker's ghastly Dynel wig.
I love the vulgarity at the core of movies like this. I love the garish sets, the superficial overemphasis on glamour, the tin-eared dialogue, the broad-strokes acting, and thoroughly loopy disregard for period detail. Perhaps it's cruel and reveals a small spirit on my part, but I have a special place in my heart for grandiose flops like this (that's flop in the artistic sense. Harlow, while no blockbuster, did make money). Joseph E. Levine produced a number of my very favorite "good" films (The Graduate, Carnal Knowledge, The Lion in Winter), but as the saying goes, when he was bad, he was better. Harlow, along with The Oscar, Where Love Has Gone (1964), and The Adventurers (1970), are the best of Levine's worst. Just brilliantly gauche, sex-obsessed behemoths that look like the kinds of films Ed Wood, Roger Corman, John Waters, or Paul Morrissey would come up with if they'd been given the budget.
PERFORMANCES
As is so often the case with female-centric camp-fests like this, the male cast is a dull and sexless bunch. Peter Lawford looks like the walking embodiment of the word "debauched," Raf Vallone has spark, Red Buttons might as well be wearing a sign saying "Nominate me for Best Supporting Actor, please," and Leslie Nielsen proves once again that when it comes to drama, he's a hell of a comic actor. Angela Lansbury, on the other hand, is so good it's as if she'd wandered in from a different movie.
As a fan of Hazel Aiken, the crass, New Jersey hit-woman Carroll Baker played in Andy Warhol's BAD (1977), I have to say, Baker only shines when she has sarcastic dialogue to deliver. Perhaps working off her feelings about producer Levine, Baker only comes alive (the same can be said for the screenplay) when Harlow requires her character to display contempt for her stepfather, Marino Bello.
THE STUFF OF DREAMS
I was eight years old when Harlow was released, but I remember absolutely nothing about the whole Jean Harlow mania that erupted due to Schulman's sordid biography. A huge bestseller; I remember my mother had a copy of the book around the house, but, being unfamiliar with the actress, I paid it no mind. Had I known of the book's scandalous reputation, I'd have been all over it. According to the New York Times, in 1964 all four of the major studios had Harlow films in the works. Only Joseph E Levine's "authorized" version and producer William Sargent's B&W Electronovision version were left standing when the smoke cleared.
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Carol Lynley's Harlow opened three months before Levine's version and flopped at the boxoffice (and at the cost of a mere $500,000, that isn't easy to do). Levine's heavily promoted film opened to good boxoffice but scathing reviews.
For her part, Carroll Baker refused to see Harlow, only managing to catch it by mistake three years later when it was shown as the in-flight movie on a plane she was taking to Buenos Aires ("I was trapped! Actually, as I watched it, I was pleasantly surprised," Baker later wrote). Now, who can ask for a better recommendation than that?
BONUS MATERIAL
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| Body Talk Baker seductively shimmies to composer Neal Hefti's song Girl Talk, a marvelous (ragingly chauvinist) bit of '60s light-jazz that incongruously crops up in this scene taking place in the early 1930s. Although the song went on to become a pop standard of the day (but failed to garner Oscar attention), I've never been able to figure out just what this very modern song is doing in this period movie. But why look for logic? Later in this same montage sequence, Baker actually breaks into a spirited 1960s twist! |
Screenwriter John Michael Hayes (The Carpetbaggers) decides on Harlow's point of view: "I can either write the story about a girl
who slept with everybody to get to the top, or an innocent girl who fought off the
wolves, kept her integrity intact, and made it to the top on her own merits. Which do you think?" Baby Doll: An Autobiography- Carroll Baker -1983
Seriously? Those were
the only two options?
Hayes, opting for the latter, reduces the entire scope of Harlow's
screen legacy to the banal issue of "Will she?" or "Won't she," thereby making
this already trite movie even more insipid than it needed to be. Presented as something
akin to a human pressure cooker unable to keep the lid on her own overflowing sex
appeal, Jean Harlow is introduced rebuffing the advances of a lecherous actor. And the film tirelessly keeps offering up variations on this theme well-nigh for
the next two hours.
Made up to look more like '60s-era Marilyn Monroe than Harlow, and carrying on throughout as though she were Ross Hunter-era Doris Day caught in a
loop of The Constant Virgin; Baker
sports an astonishing number of flattering, form-fitting costumes, and some of
the stiffest, ugliest wigs I've ever seen in a major motion picture.
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| Jean Harlow and her agent, Arthur Landau, take in the rear-projection scenery The real moral behind Harlow is that talent agents are the most trustworthy people in show business |
The plot, such as it is, is summed up by the man who discovers Harlow, the only man who sees her as a talent and not a piece of tail--the saintly talent agent Arthur Landau (whose portrayal as a paragon of virtue can be attributed to his being the main information source for Shulman's book). He tells the wannabe star, "You're the sweet, beautiful girl next door. But on fire inside."
And so the die is cast. Through a passive mother (Lansbury),
a parasitic stepfather (Vallone), skirt-chasing moguls (Nielsen), matinee idols
(Connors), and impotent husbands (Lawford), Harlow
is made up of vignettes that keep hammering us over the head with the same
message: The world's most famous sex symbol had a lot of trouble with sex in
real life. Zzzzzzzzzz.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILM
Anyone familiar with my twisted taste in movies knows that every complaint fired at a film like Harlow is actually a valentine. Bad movies are made all the time, but it's a special kind of art to make a watchable lousy movie. And for me, Harlow is a bad movie classic. It's so gonzo in its half-baked, "1930s as filtered through a 1960s prism" sensibilities; it reminds me that they just don't make 'em like this anymore. I love every hair on Carroll Baker's ghastly Dynel wig.
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| The ever-dull Mike Connors (he'll always be "Touch" Connors to me) plays a Gable-like matinee idol |
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| In this scene, we're asked to believe that the rather mature-looking Carroll Baker is too young to sign a movie contract without her mother's signature. |
While I lost my respect a long time ago for what it meant to be a "Method" actor when I learned that Edy Williams was once a student of Lee Strasberg (yes, THAT Edy Williams of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls). Baker puts great stock in her Method training, and indeed, the Oscar-nominated actress (Baby Doll) can be pretty effective under the right circumstances (Giant, Andy Warhol's Bad, Star 80).
Harlow isn't one of those circumstances. By all accounts, Baker was rushed into this film, exhausted, unwilling, and unprepared. And I'm afraid it shows. Her flat line readings are matched only by her unconvincing display of even the simplest emotions. Of course, given the lines she has to speak, I can't blame her for phoning it in.
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| The always-wonderful Angela Lansbury is a standout in her all-too-brief scenes as Harlow's mother |
As a fan of Hazel Aiken, the crass, New Jersey hit-woman Carroll Baker played in Andy Warhol's BAD (1977), I have to say, Baker only shines when she has sarcastic dialogue to deliver. Perhaps working off her feelings about producer Levine, Baker only comes alive (the same can be said for the screenplay) when Harlow requires her character to display contempt for her stepfather, Marino Bello.
Harlow: Cheap, shoddy greaser!
Bello: Nobility runs in my veins.
Harlow: King liar, Prince loafer, Count ne'er do
well, Baron loudmouth!
Bello: I'll turn you over my lap and spank some
respect into you!
Harlow: I'm too smart to get that close to your lap.
Bello: Perhaps your agent would find a part
suitable for me…
Harlow: He
only handles people.
Bello: Hey, sweetheart, your paycheck...?
Harlow: There isn't any.
Bello: But I have a horse running at 3 O'clock!
Harlow: Better tell him to walk.
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| Harlow plays fast and loose with history. Paul Bern (Lawford) is portrayed as Harlow's first and only husband. In truth, he was the second of three. |
THE STUFF OF FANTASY
They're
called clichés for a reason. Harlow traffics in so many over-familiar melodrama/soap opera tropes, even on first viewing you'll swear you've seen this film before.
The tortured, waking up in a strange bed in a sleazy room with a sleazy stranger, scene
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| 1. A downsliding (albeit, artfully posed), Harlow reacts in silent horror to the depths to which she's fallen |
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| 2. In Valley of the Dolls, Patty Duke's less artfully-posed Neely O'Hara doesn't fare much better |
The self-disgusted, "I can't stand the sight of you!" cold cream on the mirror scene
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| 1. Glass in hand, a boozy, bed-hopping Harlow has had her fill of herself |
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| 2. In Queen Bee, Joan Crawford finds even she can only tolerate just so much Joan Crawford |
The firm and testy "This is for your own good!" avuncular agent intervention scene
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| 1. Harlow's agent tells her she looks bloated, puffy, and older than her years |
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| 2. Neely's agent tells her she looks bloated, puffy, and older than her years |
The hitting rock bottom, "Been down so long it looks like up to me!" beach scene
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| 1. A drunk and depressed Harlow throws herself a beach pity-party |
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| 2. In Valley of the Dolls, Anne Welles swallows her dolls with a bit of water (not to mention lots of seaweed and sand) |
THE STUFF OF DREAMS
I was eight years old when Harlow was released, but I remember absolutely nothing about the whole Jean Harlow mania that erupted due to Schulman's sordid biography. A huge bestseller; I remember my mother had a copy of the book around the house, but, being unfamiliar with the actress, I paid it no mind. Had I known of the book's scandalous reputation, I'd have been all over it. According to the New York Times, in 1964 all four of the major studios had Harlow films in the works. Only Joseph E Levine's "authorized" version and producer William Sargent's B&W Electronovision version were left standing when the smoke cleared.
For her part, Carroll Baker refused to see Harlow, only managing to catch it by mistake three years later when it was shown as the in-flight movie on a plane she was taking to Buenos Aires ("I was trapped! Actually, as I watched it, I was pleasantly surprised," Baker later wrote). Now, who can ask for a better recommendation than that?
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| Suffering in Mink- my favorite subgenre of film That's Hanna Landy (Hutch's gal-pal in Rosemary's Baby) as Arthur Landau's wife, Beatrice. |
BONUS MATERIAL
The rarely-seen 1965 Carol Lynley "Electronovision" version of Harlow
In this film, Lynley offers a very different, less flattering take on Jean Harlow (she's pretty self-possessed), it has Ginger Rogers as Mama Jean (in her last film role, and very good!). Hurd Hadfield (The Picture of Dorian Gray - 1945) is splendid as Harlow's husband Paul Bern. No production values to speak of, but in several ways, an improvement over Joseph E. Levine's version.
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| These early publicity shots show Baker in more period-appropriate makeup, suggesting that there was perhaps a time in the pre-production phase when authenticity was sought in the costuming and makeup. Had the film been shot in B & W (the way we see Jean Harlow in our minds), I think Carroll Baker would have looked great. But by evidence of that color photo, the period look was possibly scrapped because it was so harsh and unflattering. |
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Marvellous extensive comments on this trash classic. I included it AND the other Harlow in a piece of mine a few years back:
ReplyDeletehttp://osullivan60.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/60s-2-trash-classics.html
It is just so insultingly bad on every level with a total disregard for the Harlow story that it is just laughable. Perhaps the two Harlow films should be a double bill for those long winter nights, as I am sure Grace of Monaco and Diana will be soon.
I loved the piece you wrote and the sentiments are the same: why go through all the trouble of calling this "Harlow" and then making up a story and deciding on a purely 1960s look? And yes, I'm sure the Diana and Grace bios will be the Harlow for the younger set. Thanks, Michael!
DeleteMichael beat me to the Diana and Grace references, but the funny thing is, while I could watch Harlow, The Carpetbaggers, or The Oscar (a particular favorite) again and again, I can't imagine watching either the Diana or Princess Grace biopics. Perhaps, as the late, great Roger Ebert observed, we have to wait for a movie to move from being dated to being history before we can truly see it in its own terms.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about there just being something about those older films. Something having to do with the strange censorship of the times, the cheesy aesthetics in decor, the old-fashioned talents assembling them...
DeleteI watched the dueling Liz Taylor biographies from a while back, and although Lindsay Lohan's was a laugh-riot from start to finish, it lacked the basic entertainment value to ever make me want to watch it again.
The 60's knew how to make entertaining cheese. Thanks, 3-D!
Ken Anderson, you are on fire this month! One delicious cinematic treat after another, and always a calorie-free indulgence! A platinum blonde Carroll Baker swathed in satin is one of my favorite mid-60s icons, from both this film and the Carpetbaggers. And yes, her stalwart wig, scallopped and teased and sprayed to perfection, remains reassuringly rigid in spite of all the heavy-breathing melodrama and debauchery. Between all the hair and elaborate costumes and the kewpie-doll expression painted onto her face, who can blame Baker for underplaying? You or I could essay the same part with the right makeup and wardrobe team! And yet, Harlow and Rina Marlowe are iconic, because Miss Carroll Baker does have real star quality.
ReplyDeleteEven though Baby Doll is a classic, I believe Baker's best roles came later, when she became a quirky character actress, in films like Watcher in the Woods with Bette Davis, The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn; and of course, her unforgettably villainous Hazel Aiken in Andy Warhol's Bad.
Rumor has it that Marilyn Monroe had been developing a Jean Harlow script with the help of Mama Jean Bello at the time of her death...I wonder if it would have been just as sudsy and insubstantial as this one...probably so.
I have been dying to see the quickie Carol Lynley version of Harlow, but it seems to be lost forever...Ginger Rogers plays Mama Bello in that one. Have you ever seen it?
Ken, thanks for keeping the glamour of this bygone era alive and well. Life is hard for all of us, but if we are able to slip a white fox stole around our shoulders, it does ease the suffering tremendously!! Keep on inspiring us with your Cinema Dreams and retro reveries!!
Hi Chris!
DeleteYes, these high-calorie, low-content movies are some of my favorites. Baker's wig is so...BIG...it really should have ha its own billing. Growing up, I associated Carroll Baker with this and the Carpetbaggers so closely, that I was rather surprised to later learn that she was considered an serious actress and that her sex symbol, Joseph E Levine years were something of a departure.
Her memoirs really do detail what a mess the filming of "Harlow" was. Apparently a more serious, period-accurate "Harlow" story was being prepped by director Carol Reed to feature Baker (can only imagine all those Carols/Carrolls on the poster), but Levine jumped in and pushed things into motion so fast, saying to hell with accuracy, he just wanted Baker to look sexy.
I tell you, a big chunk of cinema history is the story of horny men with money wanting to play Pygmalion with women they have obsessive crushes on (Hitchcock, Vadim, Preminger).
I'd hear about the Monroe film, but the 60s being what they were (censorship, still-living individuals who could sue), I imagine it would have come out like all the rest. Even the best of them - "I'll Cry Tomorrow" "Love me or Leave Me" were mostly fabricated dramas.
They used to screen that Carol Lynley version on The Late Late Show when I was a kid. I remember always being disappointed, because the TV Guide would always list the the sillier, more fun Carroll Baker version, and Lynley's more somber, black and white version would pop up.
If you've never seen it, take a look at the "Bonus materials" section above and you can find a very decent copy has been posted on YouTube. You'll get a kick out of it, I'm sure, and be nicely surprised.
I'm happy you enjoyed the post and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the "other" Harlow should you get a chance to see it. Thanks so much, Chris!
Ken, thanks so much - ask and you shall receive (can't believe I missed that all-important link!!)
DeleteWow, just watched the Carol Lynley version and it is indeed miles better than Harlow. script and performance-wise! Yes, it looks like a TV soap opera, very very low-budget (though fledgling designer Nolan Miller of Dynasty did the costumes, wow!), but Lynley is brassy and strong and conflicted as Harlow, and Ginger Rogers is wonderful as Mama Jean...Barry Sullivan is perfect as Marino Bello...The story has a feeling of authenticity to it, though I would love to REALLY know what happened to Paul Bern that night...Thanks a million for this first-time viewing of a film I've only read about since I was a kid!!
Glad you got to see it! That YouTube is the obscure film fan's dream.
DeleteI agree with you about the vitality of the Carol Lynley version, plus its more sincere attempt to duplicate a 30s look. Such a fascinating comparison of two wildly divergent films on (ostensibly) the same subject.
Always enjoy talking films with you, Chris!
I'm so glad I discovered this movie website. I save reading your posts for the dreariest part of my day and I am instantly uplifted into a buoyant and giddy mood. Smiling and giggling and sometimes laughing aloud in my isolated cubicle here on the 16th floor of... (Oh no, Better not be that specific.) And however transitory that mood shift may be -- as I am usually forced to return to dreary work -- it's all worth it. Never seen HARLOW, but now that I've just received a crash course in the guilty pleasures of indulging in good trashy movies I'm tempted to go out and rent it tonight. It'll definitely be added to the Netflix queue if I can't find it at Specialty Video.
ReplyDeleteHi John
DeleteI must say that your comment certainly was an uplifting part of MY day! Very flattering and gratifying to think that something essentially written for oneself (this blog) could not only elicit a smile or laugh, but (best of all) inspire you to intentionally seek out a film of dubious merit.
I am the one who should saying I'm glad you found my website (and I hope you don't mind my posting a link to your terrific "Pretty Sinister Books" site among my favorites. You recently posted the dust jacket to the book "You'll Like my Mother" which had been adapted into one of my favorite childhood scary movies ). Thank you very much, John!
I always find it hilarious when a period piece makes no effort to actually look or feel like the periods they're set in. Those made in the 60's and 70's are particularly strong offenders.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could find a video of her actually performing "Girl Talk." It's so sixties-ed out that I can't even imagine how strange it would be shoehorned into a 1930's set film.
Hi Tom
DeleteI know what you mean. When I see a big-budget period movie made by seasoned professionals (people old enough to have actually been alive during the period being depicted), I'm flabbergasted at the willful disregard for even the most cursory details of period accuracy. As you point out, it was almost an accepted practice with films.
When researching this post, I tried to find something about composer, Neal Hefti, that could possibly explain why he came up with such a VERY 60s score for a movie about "Harlow". Girl Talk is a wonderful song, but it has absolutely nothing to to do with the film. I though, as many composers do, he had previously-written compositions lying around and just sold it to Levine. To think it was composed exclusive FOR this movie is nuts!
I guess the weird concession is that the song's lyrics (apropos of absolutely nothing in the film) are never heard in the movie, and the tune is relegated exclusively in the background.
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeleteYou watched this in the proper spirit to appreciate the absurdities put forth by this train wreck. All I could think when I watched was poor Jean Harlow! To have her memory degraded in this way is so sad. As you said the less you know about the real Jean before watching the less offensive it is. What gets me is that they took someone whose life was interesting and unfortunately scandal ridden and made things up out of whole cloth while ignoring or falsifying the actual events. The whole Paul Bern/Dorothy Millette murder-suicide-studio coverup for the sake of Jean's career episode has enough drama for it's own film.
Marilyn Monroe, a great admirer of Harlow-she even sought out the woman who had been Jean's hairdresser and employed her for years performing the same service for her, had wanted to to do a bio of her but when offered a script similar to this turned it down saying "I hope they don't do that to me when I'm dead". Unfortunately she didn't get her wish and her dignity and memory has often been trashed as badly as Jean's is here.
You're right that everybody except Angela Lansbury is either bland or terrible. I think in her case she's just too much of a professional to ever phone in a performance although I don't think her part of Mama Jean is very close to the actual woman. From what I've read while she was devoted to Jean she was also a spendthrift who had married a lout and thought nothing of pouring through her daughter's money while Jean literally worked herself to death, appearing in an incredible 23 starring features in an eight year period.
You are so right that Carroll Baker is all wrong in the lead. I laughed when I watched that promo you included with the disengaged Miss Baker and the over eager narrator said that she was the only actress who could play the part. Of course that was studio hyperbole but while she's certainly was a beautiful woman she had neither the allure nor the charisma of the original Jean. Other than her measurements being the same as Harlow's they were different in pretty much every other particular. Like you I think Carroll Baker is a decent actress but better in her character work, to me she was the best thing in the dreary Ironweed and I loved her in both But Not for Me and How the West Was Won but despite all out efforts she didn't have the stuff to be a sex symbol.
It's a real pity that with two films about Jean that they are both such utter disasters. The other Harlow is even worse! The surprising thing is that even though the Carol Lynley film is clearly a cheapjack affair and Lynley gives a rotten performance they managed to get her look much closer to the real Jean than the more lavish production. However that's the only thing it achieved, Ginger Roger's Mama Jean is a frowsy mess of big sixties hair and cheap clothes. And if anyone should have been aware of 30's styles it was Ginger! If I recall properly no one else had appropriate styling either. As you pointed out the complete disregard for any kind of period detail was endemic of all such productions at the time. It's astonishing that it was so generally accepted.
Actually there is a film that apparently shows a close approximation of Harlow's life, and a far better one it is, and stars the lady herself, Bombshell. She must have been aware of the parallels to her own life and was either an extremely good sport, something that I've read was so, or it's an odd document of passive aggressiveness years before the term came in to use.
ReplyDeleteShe is sensational in it as well as Dinner at Eight but I favor Red Dust and Libeled Lady over those films. It's interesting to see how MGM in the last two years of her life was reworking her image away from the glorious hussy of her early films to a more refined ladylike one that would have served her well into the forties had she survived. Nothing that factual would have ever been allowed to intrude on the total muckraking fiction of "Harlow" though.
I don't think anything could induce me to watch this shiny junk again but I did enjoy your wry and bemused overview of this clunker. Loved your cliche collage!
Hi Joel
DeleteIndeed, everything about this is a head-scratcher. Whenever I read about movie bios being made (particularly in the 60s) I encounter the same things: 1. The makers want to exploit the contemporary beauty of its female star and are reluctant to have her look appropriately "period"
2. The legal side of things (libel lawsuits, rights permission [MGM prohibited Levine from using any of the names of Harlow's real films]) hamstring any legitimate efforts a screenwriter makes to get at the truth.
Those from Harlow's life still alive wanted to be portrayed like Red Buttons' agent (blameless saints) or they failed to give permission for either their likeness or name. Add to this a crass producer determined to film as quickly as possible and "Harlow" seemed doomed from the start.
Even Baker grappled with being sued or put on probation rather than appear in the film. It should have been shelved or postponed fora year, but Levine wouldn't hear of it. A mess!
You're right about the weird self-exploitation of "Bombshell"... she IS essentially playing her life in that one.
Hollywood is forever shoehorning actresses and pop stars into the mold of Harlow or Marilyn chiefly based on the quality of their dye jobs (Madonna, Gwen Stefani) we never seem to learn that the superficial physical trappings are the least of what made those women fascinating screen personas.
Thanks, Joel. And glad you checked out that "Harlow" promo clip. Such a lot of ballyhoo, and everyone looks so stressed out!
Joel, Bombshell is indeed a great picture with its wry view of Hollywood and Harlow at her brassy best. I particularly love the self-reflexive scene on the movie set where the actress has to perform in a rain barrel--an obvious reference to Harlow's blockbuster hit Red Dust with Gable...and she does it all with rolling eyes and tongue planted firmly in cheek.
DeleteI've seen this rare movie! It was so hard to find all these years. I found it last year on spanish dvd along with "Where Love Has Gone". I couldn't believe my luck. This type of forgotten film "classic" seems to be the last to be released on video. Why don't the film companies realise that there is a market for camp films like these? Perhaps it is a very small market?
ReplyDeleteCarroll Baker is not considered to have been a big movie star even though movie producers in the 1950s and 60s tried to make her happen. Just this alone makes me want to see any Carroll Baker film. (I'm still searching for "Sylvia"). I enjoyed "Harlow" because of her. I think she was the best thing in it. She did what she could in a film that was trying to be daring while not being able show any sexuality or nudity. I too love these expensive/cheap looking mid sixties morality tales!
I also managed to get my hands on the long sought after "The Oscar" (which is even better). It is fascinating to watch Jean Hale inpersonate Carroll Baker in Jean Harlow drag. Did you notice that the same set with the ring shaped room (a bedroom in Harlow) was used again? It looked too James Bondish to have been something from the 1930s.
Thank you Ken for writing about "Harlow" and all the fascinating background information about the making of it! More people need to see it. If you like "Valley of the Dolls" then you can appreciate the fun aspects in "Harlow". Thank goodness for Joseph E. Levine!
-Wille
Hi Wille
DeleteVery glad to hear that this is a film you've seen and liked. It's a pity that so many of these old, camp clunkers (beloved by so many) are so widely ignored by those who do the deciding which films are released on DVD.
Part of the problem here in the US is copyright related, but another problem is that studios hire marketing people to be in charge of what DVDs are released, not film fans.
I knew someone who worked for Universal, and she not only had a very sketchy knowledge of old films, but intimated that if she were to recommend too many titles for DVD that didn't perform well financially, she would likely lose her job. Thus, we get all these middle of the road genre films on DVD, and gems like this are harder to come by (or they get the bare bones treatment).
I agree that Carroll Baker is very watchable in this (and The carpetbaggers, which i think you'd like). She always struck me as being uncomfortable with the sex symbol stuff. She got better when she dropped Levine. However, for fans of good-bad cinema, Levine is a master.
i have to look at "The Oscar" again soon to take note of that James Bondian set. I thinkI have to write about Where Love Has Gone soon...another Levine movie with a terrible sense of period detail.
Thanks, Wille!
Thanks for your appreciation of this delight from my teenage years - I still adore the opening titles sequence (and doesn't Hefti's score reach pop-culture sublimity?) Again: thanks for your thoughtful and fascinating post.
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind of you, Iain! I have this soundtrack on my iPod and yes, Hefti's music is so wonderfully 60's lounge. All these years I've been expecting to learn that it was a score he had written for another film, and Joseph E Levin just bought it because he was in a rush to get the film made. It's the oddest music for a movie about Harlow, but wonderful for a Rat Pack film.
DeleteAnd I'm glad you mentioned the classy opening sequence."The Day of the Locust" practically borrowed the whole studio-waking-up thing for it's opening. thank you for stopping by again!
Both films were dismal failures. Judy Garland was right to bolt from playing Mama Jean. Ginger Rogers should have also, but she was in the middle of a sort of comeback., and she looked better than Carol Lynley who played her daughter Jean Harlow. Both actresses Carroll Baker, and Lynley were lovely of face which the real Harlow was not so much, but lacked the bodies to be a convincing sex symbol, something the real Harlow did have - sex appeal. Both stars, especially Baker look more like Marilyn Monroe than Harlow with their 60's hairstyles. Monroe had turned down playing Harlow saying, "I hope they don't do that do me after I am gone". Mama Jean died in 1958 so it would not be possible for Marilyn to be discussing a film with her in 1962.
ReplyDeleteThere was talk (and publicity) surrounding Monroe making a film of Harlow's life as far back as the early 1950s (there exists a completed script in the Marilyn Monroe archives titled "Jean Harlow" dated 1957) Monroe discussed working on this film with Mama Jean sometime in 1955 or 1956...well before the death of Jean Harlow's mother.
DeleteBut indeed, she soured on the idea after the publication of Irving Shulman's salacious book on Harlow in 1962.
Hello again, Ken.
ReplyDeleteBaker seems to remind me of another tough as nails blonde actress, Tuesday Weld. Both in style, substance, personality and unique talent. They both began playing "somewhat" controversial roles at a young age...and were so damn good at what they did..and were "destined" to become major movie stars in adulthood. Weld pulled the plug on her career when she got sick of the business, turned down a number of great roles, so she could raise a daughter and be a mom. Baker, on the other hand, suffered career mishaps, mostly because of (as you wrote) Joseph Levine who sabotaged her. Then, Baker was left with a ton of debt, exhaustion and got the hell out of the US and moved to Italy it's my view that both actresses, knowing how the business worked...ended up calling their own shots. Weld chose controversial "new wave cinema" films and directors. Baker, considered an icon in Italy started doing "cult" Italian films by highly regarded directors who LOVED her. Baker ended up making BANK and started a new life without the bozos in Hollywood.
Both Weld and Baker became "cult" actresses, in my opinion. They're well known, because of their intelligence, independence and willing to take chances...even when they could have taken the easy road. I noticed too that both actresses made a "comeback" of sorts, taking on "character" supporting roles in the mid 70s into the 90s when they felt the time was right for them to make another film.
I know that Baker came from the Lee Strasberg/"method" acting era Baker's debut in "Baby Doll" made her an instant star and was considered a truly gifted actress. Weld, made heads turn, audiences and directors alike in that crazy Dobie Gillis tv show (only one season there and she was so damn good that within a year she was in the movies, no surprise)
Like Weld, there is some kind of power and mystery and magic in their acting and the characters that come from that. The word I was always looking for was "untouchable". Baker seems to be at a short distance always from the other actors, like she has a secret she's keeping to herself that no one will ever know. I think Brando and only a handful of other actors have that quality, the kind of "magic" and in Harlow (as screwed up as a movie can be, which you described perfectly)Baker still manages to stay away from the trap of being only one dimensional.
Whenever I see her in Star 80, I love watching her. She's only in 2 scenes, but she manages to steal the show, within the first part. Her disgust with Eric Roberts is matched by a kind of fascination with him as well. And her affection and protection of her daughter is (as I always overuse here) heartbreaking. you can see all the rage, fear and sadness in her eyes and facial expressions when Roberts asks her the reason she's afraid to have her daughter pose for Playboy, "I don't need a reason....okay...yes I have a reason..I'M HER MOTHER. THAT'S THE REASON!! And where are YOUR pictures? All I see are pictures of Dorothy here. I don't see pictures of YOU with your PRIVATE PARTS showing. Something is very wrong here". Great, great acting.
I guess this turned into an analysis of two incredible actresses who are icons for going against what was expected. But Harlow isn't really the best film to show Baker's unique talent. But is it okay to say it has its moments? lol. I think it shows that after the circus that is known as Harlot...Baker didn't get BITTER...she got a whole hell of a lot BETTER!!! As always, I love reading your words. You have been very kind to all of your fans
A fascinating comparison/appreciation of two resilient and resourceful actresses. Both of whom I like a great deal. You do a good job of citing the unique qualities of both. Qualities that seemed to serve them well both on and offscreen. HARLOW isn't Baker's best showcase (although it is a lot of campy fun...plus she's very old-fashioned glam). To see her in SOMETHING WILD (1961) or, as you noted STAR 80, is to better appreciate her training. The wind-up sex-symbol Hollywood wanted to make of her perhaps brought out only her wooden side.
DeleteTuesday Weld is remarkable, too, so it was a pleasure to read your thoughts about their work.
You offered a lot of good info on their lives for those who are not overly familiar with them. Thank you for sharing such a sincere appraisal of Carroll Baker. I really like a lot of the giallo films she did during her years in Europe. Such striking time-capsules of 60's mod.
Much appreciate your contribution here, and for reading this post. My guess is you'll send a read or two off to IMDB to discover Carroll Baker and Tuesday Weld titles!
Hi there! Fantastic write up of a terrible (and terribly entertaining film. ) I always felt that "Harlow" was a bit underrated as a camp classic and it's great to see it get its due here. Quick question was the make up clip from the short "Carroll Baker as Harlow"? I've heard of this promotional short, but sadly have never seen it. Oddly enough, the early promotional photos of her prior to filming, Carroll looked much more 1930s-her bleached blonde hair was set in pin curls and they either shaved or blocked out her eyebrows and pencilled in much thinner brows.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the press evrnt announcing Carroll's casting as Harlow inspired a similar scene in "The Legend of Lylah Clare?" Just a thought.
Hi CMB! Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a gander at my HARLOW post. I'm with you in wondering why this film hasn't gained the camp classic status it deserves. I've never seen it in a theater with an audience, but I can't imagine it wouldn't be a howler from start to finish. It's so enjoyable.
DeleteI think that now-removed YouTube clip is indeed from the "Carroll Baker as Harlow" promotional short, but its been so long, it could have been one of those episodes of that old TV-show "Hollywood Backstage."
I thank you for calling my attention to the photos online featuring Baker in early HARLOW promotional photos in more authentic period makeup. (I should incorporate one or two in this essay.) What's weird is that Baker looks SO much like Harlow that on several Pinterest sites, the Baker images are mislabeled as being the real Jean Harlow. She looked very good in the B&W prints. I saw a color one and, alas color film makes the extreme look of the 1930s appear rather odd (she doesn't look sexy, she looks a tad cadaverous) which leads me to think that perhaps the whole color vs B&W appearance thing was a deciding factor in giving HARLOW a full-tilt '60s look, makeup-wise.
I'm ashamed to say I've never seen THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE, in spite of owning copy I've yet to settle down to actually watch. I hear nothing but good, campy things about it.
Again, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment here, and I'm pleased you enjoyed the post. Nice to hear from someone who enjoys the film as much as I do.