I thought I was going to entertain my wife with a gentle Hollywood romance of days gone by. What a brutal wake-up.
I'm not going to comment on the casual racism inherent to the period, there's no point there, I knew the time period I had chosen. The big fat black woman happy to clean up after white privilege goes with the territory. If you're already railing after Gone With The Wind, don't come here.
But, if you think that this film is of any interest at all, you're wrong. It's the story of a shyster who gets the girl. The story of white privilege that gets it's way. Gable's character has no redeeming qualities, he's a liar and a cheat through and through.
Jean Harlow is there to be the Hollywood Blond, and to fall for the main character. It doesn't matter that the film shows more interesting men in her immediate surroundings, she will end up going for the cheater.
Honestly, even if you are a Clark Gable fan (and not using a walker to get around), there are several other films where he is in a much better light. For all the hoopla around Gone With The Wind, the fact that that film is, arguably, a documentary on the society of the time, matters less here than fact that the reply "Honestly, my dear, I don't give a damn" paints Rhett Butler as a much more progressive character than this Duke Bradly.
Don't waste your time here.
I'm not going to comment on the casual racism inherent to the period, there's no point there, I knew the time period I had chosen. The big fat black woman happy to clean up after white privilege goes with the territory. If you're already railing after Gone With The Wind, don't come here.
But, if you think that this film is of any interest at all, you're wrong. It's the story of a shyster who gets the girl. The story of white privilege that gets it's way. Gable's character has no redeeming qualities, he's a liar and a cheat through and through.
Jean Harlow is there to be the Hollywood Blond, and to fall for the main character. It doesn't matter that the film shows more interesting men in her immediate surroundings, she will end up going for the cheater.
Honestly, even if you are a Clark Gable fan (and not using a walker to get around), there are several other films where he is in a much better light. For all the hoopla around Gone With The Wind, the fact that that film is, arguably, a documentary on the society of the time, matters less here than fact that the reply "Honestly, my dear, I don't give a damn" paints Rhett Butler as a much more progressive character than this Duke Bradly.
Don't waste your time here.