Hold Your Man

I always loved Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner, but not so much Jean Harlow. Me = dumb. I'd only seen clips of her films here and there. I always thought she was a hot one-liner, a glamour girl. But after seeing this, my first full length Jean Harlow experience, I admit that Miss Harlow was a truly great screen artist with the gift of creating rich characters. I simply fell in love with her, not because she was the first blonde bombshell or because she died young and became a legend. In this film, Miss Harlow's character is multi-dimensional beyond the traditional 1930's moll. She starts out one place and travels an arduous journey to end up on the other side of life. I loved her tough exterior. I loved her smile. I loved her song at the piano. My God, she was stupendous, she made me burst into tears when she sang her sad song. Most of all, I loved the HAPPY ENDING, Hollywood style. One other thing I was thrilled about was the African American inmate and her preacher father. Anita Loos was SO ahead of her time. She wrote 2 characters who were so lovely and so real. The inmate girl and her father brought such harmony to their scenes with all the white folk. A REVELATION for me. I hate stereotypes.