Platinum Blonde (1931)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Harry Chandlee (story) and
Douglas W. Churchill (story) ...

Release Date:

31 October 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

She Was Gorgeous - He Was A Man . . . So, the other girl had to wait !

Plot:

A young woman from a very rich family impulsively marries a reporter, but each assumes the other is the one whose lifestyle must change.

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Socialite

Cast

Loretta Young	...	Gallagher
Robert Williams	...	Stew Smith
Jean Harlow	...	Anne Schuyler
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Smythe, The Butler
Reginald Owen	...	Dexter Grayson
Edmund Breese	...	Conroy, The Editor
Don Dillaway	...	Michael Schuyler (as Donald Dillaway)
Walter Catlett	...	Binji Baker
Claud Allister	...	Dawson, The Valet
Louise Closser Hale	...	Mrs. Schuyler

Also Known As:

Gallagher (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Robert Williams died of appendicitis just three days after the film's release.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stew Smith is married, his colleagues make fun of him in the press room. At that moment his wife calls and he walks over to the phone with his pipe in his mouth. However, when he picks up the phone, the pipe disappears.

Quotes:

Stew Smith: Now, before you go unconscious, I want you to get this through your nut.
Dexter Grayson: I beg your pardon?
Stew Smith: Unconscious. You know, when you don't know anything - your natural state! There's some people, you can't buy their self-respect for a bucket of shekels! Now I happen to be one of those guys.
Dexter Grayson: We just thought...
Stew Smith: Don't think! Let me do the thinking. Now you go back to that Schuyler outfit and tell them that I didn't marry that dame for her dough and I don't want any of her dough now.
Dexter Grayson: Yes.
Stew Smith: I was too poor to buy her a wedding present when we married, so I'll give her a divorce for a wedding present!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "SexTV: On Blondes/Walter Kundzicz/The Art of Flirting (#6.13)" (2004)

The Most Beautiful Ending

I burst into tears every time I watch the end of this film. It's just so, so beautiful the way Loretta Young and Robert Williams finally get together. Young is light and lovely at this early stage of her career. As for Williams, no one's ever heard of him because he died so young of alcoholism. Young, called Gallagher in the film, is his pal, "one of the boys," on the newspaper where they work. She's also been in love with him all this time. He marries society siren Jean Harlow after meeting her on assignment, and they do have one adorable scene where they sing about his wearing--or not wearing--garters to hold up his socks. There's also a terrific scene where Williams and the butler yell to hear their voices echo through the empty mansion Williams lives in with Harlow (and her family). Of course the society marriage doesn't work out, since Williams can't stand being "a bird in a gilded cage." At the end, Williams is writing a play with Gallagher's help. He says to her, "the way it's got to end is he realizes he was wrong about the other gal, that's it's the little O'Brien gal he's been in love with all along, and they embrace, and then he kisses her...". And they do kiss, so tenderly, then she bursts into tears and dashes into his arms with a hug. His response at that moment is so perfect, the emotion so right, it's one of the most beautiful moments I've ever seen in a love story. It ends with him stroking her hair and saying, "Whatsa matter, Gallagher, whatsa matter...".