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43 out of 47 people found the following comment useful :-
A PERFORMANCE FOR THE ANTHOLOGY BOOKS, 23 April 2004
10/10
Author: marcosaguado from Los Angeles, USA

Frank Capra created universes and cast actors capable to inhabit them with total, natural ease. Robert Williams in "Platinum Blond" personifies that theory. His performance is as close to perfection as any I have ever seen. Let's remember this is 1931. Great acting was considered the Paul Muni, George Arliss kind of acting. Now, they seem stilted and highly theatrical. Robert Williams's performance seems ahead of its time even today in 2004. "Platinum Blond" offers very many pleasures, but Robert Williams is at it's center, keeping the joy of the movie very much alive.

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37 out of 39 people found the following comment useful :-
The Best Actor You've Never Seen, 28 October 2005
6/10
Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Robert Williams doesn't even get any billing n the DVD cover or on other promotions of this film, but he IS the star of the film....and he is outstanding.

Williams could have been a major star, a very well-known actor, had he not died four days after this picture was released with a ruptured appendix. The man simply puts on an acting clinic here. I wonder if young aspiring actors are ever shown this film and told to study Williams? If is wasn't for this film, I assume nobody would ever know about this guy.

Anyway, the movie is really dated but its interesting thanks to some great dialog, mainly, once again, by Williams. Jean Harlow gets the billing but a young Loretta Young has the real beauty and charm here. Too bad her role was so minor and bland. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

The storyline is one of Hollywood's favorite themes: the average Joe beating up on the snobby rich people. Harlow's "mother" in here (Louise Closser Hale) plays that snob role perfectly.

Even though I just gave it six stars, there are lots of laughs in this film and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Watching Williams' acting performance is worth the price of the disc, and then some.

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25 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
A Genius - Robert Williams - the great loss, 8 September 2004
8/10
Author: ytbufflo from mountainair nm

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!

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17 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Nice, bristling romantic comedy, 19 September 2001
Author: Glenn Andreiev (gandreiev@aol.com) from Huntington, NY

PLATINUM BLONDE marks the start of three careers- First, Frank Capra. He has a natural style of handling actors. There is scene where lovebirds Jean Harlow and Robert Williams mock sing-song to each other. It feels improvised, very natural, unlike the stage learned dialog that infested early talkies. He's experimental with camera angles, and playing with sound (One scene is filmed by a crackling fountain) and he keeps the pace and dialog delivery going at rocket pace. Then you have Jean Harlow. Wow, do you have Jean Harlow! Not only is she stunningly beautiful (even when photographed from behind) but she has a cool, likable wit (She suppose to be a society dame, but she makes the character so likable, you just want to hang around). Thirdly, you have Robert Williams, who was just starting to make a name for himself with this 1931 film. Sadly, this bristling talent died later that year of appendicitis. He's wonderfully energetic, quirky and full of speed (He's so wonderfully jumpy when he feels enclosed in a stuffy mansion you'd think he has Starbucks running through his viens.) PLATINUM BLONDE seems to be dress rehersal for the film Capra would make five years later- MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (My favorite Capra film) Williams (Like Gary Cooper) is labeled "Cinderella Man", he loves yodelling and getting the servants to yodel in his newfound mansion home. Catch this film if you can.

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19 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
A Delight, 1 October 1999
Author: Al Rodbell from Carlsbad CA

There is a scene with Robert Williams and Jean Harlow singing a ditty to each other. There was such natural wit and affection that their infatuation and joy in each others company was perfectly expressed. This was love, this was sensuality, without a hint of the physicality that modern movies are forced to graphicly depict. Seeing a movie like this, made in low fidelity black and white seventy years ago shows what we have lost.

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12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrific comedy about the newspaper biz, class struggle and true love, 28 December 1999
8/10
Author: Michael Asimow (asimow@law.ucla.edu) from Los Angeles

Stew Smith is a salt of the earth, street smart, cynical wisecracking reporter who's proud of his $75 a week salary. While tracking a story about a rich kid involved in a breach of promise suit, he gets involved with the Schuylers. This group of nitwits is a super-rich family trying desperately to avoid bad publicity. Stew catches the eye of the gorgeous Ann Schuyler, and the two fall madly in love to the absolute horror of Anne's snooty mother (who unfortunately is afflicted with gastritis). Indeed, Stew and Ann actually get married--with predictably catastrophic results. How will the filmmakers deliver Stew out of Ann's arms and into the arms of Gallagher--the equally gorgeous reporter who's madly in love with Stew?

This wonderful Frank Capra comedy must have appealed greatly to the sentiments of the 1931 audience at the very depths of the Depression. The Schuylers (and their idiot lawyer Dexter Grayson) were everything that people loved to hate--snooty, superior, stupid, wholly undeserving of their vast riches. They are mocked ruthlessly, while Stew Smith and Gallagher, as worthy representatives of the working class, are portrayed with understanding and compassion. Stew briefly embraces the idle life of the super-rich (even to wearing garters), but, of course, this doesn't last long.

This is more than just a film for Frank Capra fans--it's a glorious spoof of the old-time newspaper business and a tasty bit of social history.

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14 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
An early screwball comedy., 20 November 2003
Author: newtonsmom6 from Evanston, IL.

This a a very funny Harlow comedy. Jean Harlow is fantastic in it as the spoiled heiress. More than anything, what impressed me about this film is actor Robert Williams. He is so natural and likable that the film really belongs to him. I was sorry to learn that he died not long after this film was released. I'm sure if he had lived he would have been a huge star. Watch this film, if for no other reason, than to see his excellent performance.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Unusual performance, 22 November 2000
Author: Charles Herold (cherold) from United States

The most notable thing about this movie is Robert Williams unusual performance. I've seen performances like it but none of them were in 1931 and I was surprised I'd never heard of him. Turns out he *died* in 1931, and it's worth watching the movie just to see someone who could have been a star. The movie itself is quite enjoyable, although Harlow makes little impression as a society dame and it's difficult to believe the enticing Loretta Young could be any one's idea of "one of the boys."

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Must-see for film buffs, 28 August 1999
7/10
Author: Joel-61

This very early Capra film is a must-see for several reasons. Jean Harlow is unusually cast as a straight society high-brow. Although the role could easily be played as a caricature, she brings to it appealing depth and vulnerability. Loretta Young is radiant. And Robert Williams delivers an eccentric performance that seems far ahead of its time. I had never seen nor heard of him before. Capra's populism here consists mostly of: let the classes stay in their places, they don't mix very well. A surprisingly literate and engaging film.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Primitive, pleasant Capra, 10 July 2000
Author: marcslope

Robert Williams plays the kind of role Spencer Tracy did time and again at Fox and MGM--the brash, likeable working man--and, in fact, the picture suggests a dry run of Tracy's "Libeled Lady." There's a breach-of-promise suit, a roomful of reporters cracking wise, a rich-rich Long Island clan existing to be mocked, and the kind of farcical complications that made the newspaper comedy one of the '30s' most endearing genres. Unfortunately, the dialogue isn't as snappy as it thinks it is, and Jean Harlow is as miscast as a society dame as Loretta Young is as a world-weary reporter -- the whole thing might have made more sense if they switched roles. The compensations, though, are many: Capra giving his actors brilliant bits of business (the "puttering" scene is an unsung classic), a roster of swell character actors, and some pre-Production Code naughtiness, including two very sexy love scenes between Williams and Harlow. Capra's pace is slower than usual, and his later works had cleverer plot twists. His handling of actors, though, is as beautiful to behold as ever. And in Williams' irresistible performance, we have a glimpse of a star that might have been.

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