Harlow ** (1965, Carroll Baker, Red Buttons, Raf Vallone, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Martin Balsam, Mike Connors, Leslie Nielsen) – Classic Movie Review 10,218

Director Gordon Douglas’s 1965 Thirties Hollywood biopic Harlow stars Carroll Baker, who is lively if hollow as the platinum blonde bombshell star Jean Harlow, in the Paramount Pictures studio’s plush though not nearly sensational enough production, with handsome sets and gorgeous Edith Head gowns.

But the yarn is long and surprisingly dull in this telling, and the film reveals little truth or offers little enlightenment. The good cast doesn’t help much, apart from Angela Lansbury as Harlow’s mom Mama Jean Bello, Raf Vallone as her stepfather Marino Bello and Martin Balsam as the studio boss Everett Redman, who all give more than creditable performances.

However, as with Mommie Dearest (1981), there is considerable camp and kitsch value.

The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the book by Arthur M Landau and Irving Shulman. Red Buttons plays the agent named Arthur Landau.

It was filmed simultaneously with the Carol Lynley-Ginger Rogers version, also called Harlow.

Also in the cast are Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, Raf Vallone, Mike Connors, Leslie Nielsen, Mary Murphy, Hanna Landy, Peter Hansen, Kipp Hamilton, Peter Leeds, Billy Bletcher, Fritz Feld, Joe Gray, Myron Healey, Shep Houghton and Julie Parrish.

The film names none of Harlow’s movies or says she was under contract to MGM (she works at fictional Majestic Studios). None of her co-stars is named or seen. Her unsuccessful first and third marriages are not mentioned. She dies from pneumonia, but it was uremic poisoning.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,218

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