Platinum Blonde (1931)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

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

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:

Reporter | Mansion | Socialite | Mother In Law | Unrequited Love

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wilson Benge	...	Butler (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler	...	Hank, a Reporter (uncredited)
Richard Cramer	...	Speakeasy Proprietor (uncredited)
Oliver Eckhardt	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Bill Elliott	...	Anne's Beau, the Round-the-World Flyer (uncredited)
Dannie Mac Grant	...	Office Boy (uncredited)
Frank Holliday	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Radcliffe (uncredited)
Charles Jordan	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Tom London	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Hal Price	...	Joe, a Reporter (uncredited)
Dick Prichard	...	(uncredited)
Harry Semels	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Florence Wix	...	Party Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Capra		(as Frank R. Capra)

Writing credits
Harry Chandlee		(story) (as Harry E. Chandlee) and
Douglas W. Churchill		(story)
Jo Swerling		(adaptation)
Dorothy Howell		(continuity)
Robert Riskin		(dialogue)

Produced by
Frank Capra	....	producer (as Frank R. Capra)
Harry Cohn	....	producer

Original Music by
Irving Bibo		(uncredited)
David Broekman		(uncredited)
Bernhard Kaun		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker

Film Editing by
Gene Milford

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Edward Bernds	....	sound (uncredited)

Other crew
Edward Shulter	....	technical director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1931) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1950) (USA) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Gallagher (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

During its 1950 reissue it was double-billed with "Gilda."

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: [to Anne] I know what's wrong. I'm colorblind. That's what wrong, I'm colorblind. I've been sitting here for a half-hour looking at you, and I don't know yet whether your eyes are blue or violet.

Movie Connections:

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

A Genius - Robert Williams - the great loss

Platinum Blonde launched so many careers - the most infamous being Frank Capra and Jean Harlow. It is not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination. The sound is bad, Harlow is terribly miscast, and poor Loretta Young struggles valiantly to bring depth to a part that is the filmic equivalent of wallpaper. As many have said before me, she and Harlow would have done well to reverse roles.

But the greatest on screen portrayal of fresh, modern, naturalistic acting (a style that later would be attributed to James Dean) is from the wonderful, refreshingly brilliant young Robert Williams in 1931!!!!! I would never mark this film as a masterpiece, yet I would encourage all struggling male actors to study this man's work as a prime example of how to dominate a scene without any artifice or aggression. Every time he enters a room, the whole film lights up, and every time he leaves, all the other actors seem to lose their purpose and energy.

I have never seen such simple perfection, and I am saddened to no end to learn of his untimely death at thirty-four, just as he was starting to get roles worthy of his genius. I could not get enough of this man's work, and regret having so little of it to view. An absolute must see for Robert Williams alone!