As other Minnesotans know, this is an unusual winter in these parts: nary a particle of snow on the ground, unreasonably warm sentiments expressed to each other as the warm weather makes us all sunny, irradiating each other with good cheer and all that rot. The barren ground presents little barrier to the winds, and little matter what direction said winds howl from: they are cold, and while I may have referenced warm weather a moment ago, the close reader will realize that a relative description will still mean the temperature outside is such that a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood is replaced by driving the car, instead, slowly as we admire the Christmas travesties; but the lack of precipitation means I am not spending time shoveling snow from walk and ‘way.
This is by way of excusing what may seem like an avalanche of Belated Movie Reviews: too cold to do anything outside but shovel snow, and a paucity of same means we either go out to shopping malls or stay inside and watch movies. So, to the latter we devolve, and last night we saw PLATINUM BLONDE (1931), starring Robert Williams and Jean Harlow, a movie full of non-doctrinaire dialog from the lead character, a newspaper reporter who falls for his subject, a lady of a supremely rich family (we don’t know why) (and that applies to both statements). Alas, being from different social strata, soon strains appear in the marriage, the lust wears off, and a party running wild, populated by characters from the news world, come together to spark the lead’s literary ambitions, not to mention his feelings for an old pal.
The dialog is snappy and interesting, the lead both self-aware and, yet, helpless in the face of his emotional urges, and while the newspaperfolks surrounding him can be quite amusing, those characters most responsible for supporting him are somewhat flat and depressing. And the title could easily have been something else: Bird in a Cage, Ignoring the Blindingly Obvious, Who’s Chumping Who? are just a few that come to mind.
It’s a good midnight movie if you have insomnia and don’t have a reason to get up early the next morning. Some of it will make you laugh, a little will make you cringe.
