st-shot Jean Harlow shows she can neither dance or sing well in Reckless, A Selznick driven production cynically attempting to cash in on the "Platinum Blonde's" tabloid fresh brief marriage to producer Paul Bern. The role is tailored made for the better voiced, trained dancer Crawford but MGM and director Victor Fleming instead opt for evasive action shooting Jean's double in long shot from the side and hiding her behind the gaudy costumes of the chorus to make up for her hoofer inefficiencies. When she sings (or is dubbed) the Kern, Hammerstein tune Reckless it comes across as bad Mae West. Ned Riley (William Powell) manages the blossoming Broadway career of Mona Leslie. He wants to marry her but vacillates and loses her to spoiled playboy Bob Harrison (Franchot Tone) who on a whim buys out an entire show to watch her perform alone. They rush into marriage, Bob dumping intended "Jo" ( Roz Russell ) much to the discomfort of the upper crust society that Leslie feels out of place in. When Jo quickly rebounds and marries Bob predictably acts out and things snowball from there to tragedy.In its early scenes Reckless is buoyantly screwball, eventually becoming deadly serious before sealing its fate with an insipid redemption. Harlow underwhelms in every way. Somewhat detached to both lovers she provides little spark in her scenes with either though Powell and Tone acquit themselves well in their respective roles. Shot from the waist up smiling as she plows through her dance numbers Fleming goes as far as dissolving a trained professionals steps and gams to Harlow's upper torso in one shot to pull off the ruse. By throwing caution to the wind and playing against Harlow's weaknesses Selznick's actions regarding this picture are succinctly summed up in the title.

vincentlynch-moonoi As I got into this film I began to sense that something was wrong with it. So, I consulted IMDb and quickly concluded what the problem was by simply looking at how it was classed -- as a "drama - musical - comedy". There's the problem, the film doesn't quite know what it is. A drama can have aspects that are humorous, and a comedy can have its serious moments, but when it comes right down to it, most films have to be primarily one type...and this isn't.There's an overly-long production number early on in the film, which though important to the plot, should have been much shorter. The scenes in the fun-house were quite clever and interesting, and reminded me of fun-houses I experienced as a child back in the 1950s. William Powell plays a sort of thinmanesque character here, with his best scene perhaps being when he professes his love for the Jean Harlow character, not realizing she has fallen asleep in the hammock. Franchot Tone plays the heavy-drinking, likable playboy...a role that he was often typecast in.So, things are going happily, funnily, and musically along (and, in my view, boringly)until almost exactly half-way through the film, when suddenly it transforms itself into a drama. Franchot Tone realizes he is still in love with his former fiancé, Jean Harlow realizes Tone is not really in love with her, and suddenly Tone commits suicide. Not to mention that Harlow is secretly pregnant. Now, don't get me wrong, but up until it turned into a drama, I wasn't enjoying the film. Once it became a drama, it got quite interesting.Some of the supporting actors here are interesting. A pre-Andy Hardy Mickey Rooney is quite good. May Robson is superb as the grandmother. Rosiland Russel has a small, but key role, and you may not recognize her because of how young she is here. Henry Stephenson comes across as the bad father of Franchot Tone, but redeems himself as the film comes to a conclusion, and he is a welcome presence in any film. There are two "mugs" in the film -- Nat Pendleton, who is interesting, and Ted Healy (of Three Stooges fame), who is not.So, I gave this film 5 stars out of 10, because half of the film is interesting.

krdement If you enjoy identifying actors in cameo roles, this movie might interest you. Spotting the likes of Mickey Rooney, Leon Ames, Allan Jones, Margaret Dumont and Paul Fix saved this movie for me. If it weren't for that little game, I'd have regarded this film as a total waste - of both my time and a deep, talented cast.The film slowly develops a plot that never seems to gel, and the characters are all very one-dimensional, except Franchot Tone, who delivers a reasonable performance. However, his character's fate comes out of the blue, and is the point at which the tone of the story veers sharply in a bizarre way.The early, light comedy part of this movie is pretty aimless, and it jumps around a lot. The second half of the movie is like a completely different film spliced onto the first half. It, too, meanders; but unlike the first half, it is maudlin and melodramatic.The final scene is preposterous. The supposed-to-be climactic speech by Harlow would not come close to turning a hostile audience in her favor. She repeats a few generalized statements that, no doubt, everybody had read many times in the press coverage of the scandal. Talk about rehash!Oh yeah, there are quite a few discontinuities, too, for those of you who can entertain yourselves by spotting them. There is a shot of Tone's yacht in broad daylight, an intervening interior scene, and then Harlow and Tone go out onto the deck in darkest night, without the slightest suggestion of any time having passed.I was drawn to this film when I saw the incredible cast. How did Victor Fleming and this impressive cast deliver such a malaise of a film? Chalk it up to the writers, I guess.

Sleepy-17 This really seems like a Marion Davies vehicle: comedienne who really can't dance or sing is called upon to do so (but her songs are dubbed). This one has ornate, ridiculous-but-not-Busby Berkely routines, and the usual good, almost artistic, direction by Victor Fleming. But it also has William Powell and Jean Harlow! I've never seen Powell more relaxed and fun; he has obvious chemistry not just with Harlow but with May Robson as Granny! The scenes between him and May are a delight. And Harlow's acting is great! So it's a must-see for fans of Powell and Harlow. Just be prepared, the musical scenes are a joke, and the final scene is so ill-conceived it's a let-down. Otherwise, this is first-rate.