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Thursday, January 3, 2019

RED DUST (1932)

1932 saw director Victor Fleming, and to some extent M-G-M, shed Early Talkie stiffness in films like this exotic/erotic Pre-Code romantic adventure for Clark Gable & Jean Harlow, pawing each other at his Indo-China Rubber Plantation. But when new assistant Gene Raymond shows up with tony wife Mary Astor (and tennis rackets!), Harlow’s good-time gal fears she’s out-classed, out-maneuvered & on her way out. Fleming keeps the construction tight, relationships hot, and laughs & hormonal impulses lively, bringing the film in at a concise 83 minutes on some superbly faked studio sets. (John Ford’s equally fine African-set remake, MOGAMBO, still with Gable twenty years later, and shot on real locations, adds 30+ minutes.*) Gable, always at his best under Fleming, displays his early glamorous peak in the sweaty tropics (no mustache/no shirt). And Fleming, a vastly underrated director of women, gets more than just sex & fun out of Harlow, just as he had with Clara Bow back in the silents. He makes these gals legit!*

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *In Ford’s remake (MOGAMBO/’53 - see below), they reverse the good girl/bad girl hair color dichotomy with blonde Grace Kelly taking over from brunette Mary Astor and brunette Ava Gardner in for platinum blonde Harlow. Tempus fugit . . . in fashion, anyway.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Try the next Fleming/Harlow, BOMBSHELL/’33, one of the funniest Hollywood satires.

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