“So gentlemen prefer blondes, do they? Ha!”
The second stop on our tour of Hollywood’s pre-Code naughty neighbourhood is a racy rendezvous with the Red-Headed Woman (1932). Jean Harlow (formerly the “platinum blonde”) plays the lustfully liberated “Red” who turns on her titillating allure for advancement in upper society. MGM got away with this hysterically salacious scenario, which became a critical and box-office hit — although not in the UK, where it was banned.
In the pre-screening talk, Michael looks at the fabulous force of nature that was Jean Harlow, the work of screenplay writer Anita Loos, and the trouble this ribald romantic comedy encountered with the censors.
Sexy, racy, bristling with snappy dialogue, funny, [Red-Headed Woman] is loaded with dynamite.
Motion Picture Herald
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
Michael van den Bos
Jack Conway
Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Una Merkel
USA
1932
English
Book Tickets
Monday April 14
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Screenwriter
Anita Loos
Cinematography
Harold Rosson
Editor
Blanche Sewell
Art Director
Cedric Gibbons
Also in This Series
SIN! SEX! SHOCK! SCANDAL! Welcome to the sordid cinema of Pre-Code Hollywood! Classic film scholar Michael van den Bos is your tour guide on a 5-part trek through the seamier, steamier and sinister side of Hollywood movies from the early 1930s.
Baby Face
In the first of our new five-week Film Studies course exploring the notorious pre-censorship era of American cinema, Michael van den Bos introduces the 1933 shocker Baby Face, with Barbara Stanwyck sleeping her way up the corporate ladder.
Red-Headed Woman
The second stop on our tour of Hollywood's pre-Code naughty neighbourhood is a racy rendezvous with Jean Harlow as the lustfully liberated "Red" who turns on her titillating allure for advancement in upper society. Introduced by Michael van den Bos.
Freaks
Beautiful circus trapeze artiste Cleopatra likes to flirt with one of the sideshow attractions, Hans, a dwarf. When she learns that Hans is a wealthy man she decides to marry him. It's a choice she will live to regret... An unforgettable 1932 shocker.
Trouble in Paradise
Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins play lovers and thieves attempting to fleece the chic owner of a French perfume company, played by Kay Francis. What ensues is a modern ménage à trois in the most elegant, innuendo filled film comedy of all time.