Saratoga *** (1937, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Frank Morgan, Walter Pidgeon, Una Merkel, Margaret Hamilton, Hattie McDaniel) – Classic Movie Review 4981

Director Jack Conway’s sad and troubled 1937 MGM movie Saratoga is tragically the last film of the young blonde bombshell Jean Harlow, and marks the last pairing of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in their sixth and final film together.

Harlow died suddenly on 7 June 1937 at the age of only 26, when 90 per cent of this racetrack romantic comedy, written by Anita Loos and Robert Hopkins, was shot.

Harlow collapsed on the set while filming a scene with Walter Pidgeon and died a week later of kidney failure. She had been suffering from problems after oral surgery to remove impacted wisdom teeth and had also earlier suffered from sun poisoning.

Jean Harlow died suddenly on 7 June 1937 at the age of only 26.

The MGM studios initially wanted to re-shoot entirely with Virginia Bruce or Jean Arthur. But, when Harlow’s many fans objected, the remaining scenes were finished with the distractingly noticeable use of a double (her stand-in Mary Dees), shot from behind or with costumes that obscured her face, and long shots, with her voice dubbed by Paula Winslowe.

Harlow plays Carol Clayton, the daughter of a horse breeder helped by bookie Duke Bradley (Gable) to keep Grandpa Clayton (Lionel Barrymore)’s stud farm in business. Carol, the daughter of broke Frank Clayton (Jonathan Hale), is planning to marry rich Hartley Madison (Walter Pidgeon), but dad is heavily in debt to Bradley, who takes a shine to her.

Harlow bows out in style and the movie itself is a fair enough entertainment, with strong performances from a fine array of stars and support players. Frank Morgan, Una Merkel, George Zucco, Cliff Edwards, Hattie McDaniel, Frankie Darro, Carl Stockdale, Henry Stone, Ruth Gillette, Charles Foy, Robert Emmett Keane, Edgar Dearing, Frank McGlynn Sr, Bert Roach and Margaret Hamilton (uncredited as Maizie).

Saratoga is directed by Jack Conway, runs 96 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Anita Loos and Robert Hopkins, is shot in black and white by Ray June, is produced by Bernard H Hyman and is scored by Edward Ward.

The film was rushed out in unseemly haste on 23 July 1937, not seven weeks after Harlow’s death, and her fans made it one of the year’s biggest hits, earning $2,432,000 in the US and Canada and $820,000 elsewhere, for a profit of $1,146,000, MGM’s biggest money-maker of 1937.

Harlow, who had just divorced her third husband, director Harold Rosson, was then engaged to William Powell and wanted to marry him.

There was location shooting in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, as well as in Saratoga, New York.

Jean Harlow with director Jack Conway and Clark Gable.

Eerily, Harlow was caught in a photo-shoot with director Jack Conway and Clark Gable only minutes before she collapsed. The photo was published publicly when her death was announced.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 4981

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