Review of Saratoga

Saratoga (1937)
Mostly trivia
23 May 2002
Not a great movie, it doesn't have the expected chemistry between Gable and Harlow, but many bits of trivia connected with it. It was released as I understand it after public pressure for another look at her. It ended up being her most financially successful film. I think that the cigar scene is one of her best, most understated comic moments.

I don't know of another film finished after its star's death like this. For that alone it is a curiosity. The added footage is very obvious, comical yet macabre. And the ongoing bit about her being sick is equally macabre.

As for the trivia, you have one of Lionel Barrymore's last ambulatory roles; longtime MGM contractee Walter Pidgeon in his first MGM role; Hattie McDaniel singing; The Wizard of Oz having breakfast with the Wicked Witch of the West; and Clark Gable playing probably the only nice bookie in the history of the movies (sort of nice, to Harlow's father at least).

For Harlow at her best, go with Personal Property, Red Dust or Bombshell, but watch this for the trivia.
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