Red-Headed Woman (1932) - full review!
What was probably a scandalous sensation in its day is now rather flat and dated. This pre-code drama, directed by Jack Conway and written by Anita Loos from a Katharine Brush novel, features Jean Harlow in the title role as Lillian 'Red' Andrews, a girl from the other side of the tracks that uses her physical beauty and sexuality to ensnare men to get what she wants (the things money can buy), though she never earns the respectability she craves. As Lil's roommate Sally, Una Merkel's character provides a comical perspective of her friend's desires, exploits and powerful influence over men.
Sally is there to observe Lil dump her bootlegger boyfriend and relentlessly pursue and seduce her boss Bill Legendre Jr. (Chester Morris), who seems to have no control over his actions once 'Red' has her hooks in him. His father Will Sr. (Lewis Stone), the owner of a coal business in Renwood that he runs with Bill, can't discharge her; he's also powerless to stop his son's divorce by his childhood sweetheart Irene 'Rene' Legendre (Leila Hyams), who had caught her husband with Red when she'd returned early from a trip with her Aunt Jane (May Robson). When Rene attempts a reconciliation with Bill, who'd started drinking ever since she'd left him, she learns that Lil and Bill have just been married.
But Lil is shunned in Renwood society and isn't invited to parties like the one thrown for a New York coal magnate named C.B. Gaerste (Henry Stephenson), so she seduces him and threatens to expose her Charlie unless he invites Will Sr., Aunt Jane, and his other friends to a party at her house. Though Lil thinks she's finally made it, Sally overhears otherwise and Lil catches all of her guests leaving early to be with Irene at her home across the street. After her ensuing tirade, Will Sr. convinces Bill Jr., and C.B., to send her away to New York. Once there, she exerts her influence over Charlie and become his mistress. However, the Legendre men had detectives follow Lil and photograph her affairs with C.B.'s French chauffeur Albert (Charles Boyer). Once exposed, she returns to Redwood where she hopes to reconcile with Bill.
When Lil gets home, she learns that Bill has moved in with his father to avoid her. At Will Sr.’s, she observes Bill and Irene kissing and making up. Lil has another outburst, she then takes Will Sr.’s $500 check to leave and runs out the door to stop Bill and Irene from leaving in his car. Rejected once again, Lil shoots Bill as he attempts to drive away, then she runs off into the night. Two years later, a fully recovered Bill with Irene, and his father, are at the races (a horse track) in Paris where, through binoculars, the men observe Lil in the winner's circle with the trophy. With an ending that defied the censors of the time, the film ends with Lil driving off with the old bearded man, the horse's owner, that's she's obviously hooked similarly; Albert is the chauffeur.
Purchase this DVD COLLECTION now at
Most Recent Additions:
Casanova Brown (1944) - full review!
I Want You (1951) - full review!
A Bill of Divorcement (1932) - full review!
Patterns (1956) - full review!
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) - full review!
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) - full review!
Hour of the Gun (1967) - full review!
To Sir, with Love (1967) - full review!
You'll Never Get Rich (1941) - full review!
The Actress (1953) - full review!
Mannequin (1937) - full review!
All My Sons (1948) - full review!
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) - full review!
State Fair (1945) - full review!
Billy Budd (1962) - full review!
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) - full review!
The Bachelor Party (1957) - full review!
The Glenn Miller Story (1954) - full review!
The Southerner (1945) - full review!
The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)
Never on Sunday (1960) - full review!
The Arrangement (1969) - full review!
A Summer Place (1959) - full review!
Miracle in the Rain (1956) - full review!
Love Letters (1945) - full review!
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) - full review!
The Absent Minded Professor (1961)
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Come and Get It (1936) - full review!
The Prize (1963) - full review!
This Is the Army (1943) - full review!
Home from the Hill (1960) - full review!
Hangmen Also Die (1943) - full review!
The Shop on Main Street (1965) - full review!
The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) - full review!
A Gathering of Eagles (1963) - full review!
This Happy Breed (1944) - full review!
Red-Headed Woman (1932) - full review!
Waterloo Bridge (1931) - full review!
Baby Face (1933) - full review!
Titanic (1943) - full review!
Cover Girl (1944) - full review!
Saratoga Trunk (1945) - full review!
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Young Philadelphians (1959) - full review!
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Pocket Money (1972) - full review!
[Home] [Hitchcock] [Oscar's Best] [Essays] [Essential Films] [TCM Picks] [Obscure Films] [Links] [Other Reviews] [Academy Awards] [Silent Films] [Movie Index]
