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Reckless ('35)

Nutshell Review:  Reckless (’35)

Director:  Victor Fleming
Starring:  Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone, Rosalind Russell, May Robson
Studio: MGM
​
My IBDB Rating: 6
Viewing:   Warner Archive Collection DVD
Picture
​Plot: 
Mona Leslie (Harlow) is a musical performer who is seduced & impetuously marries rich playboy Bob Harrison (Tone).  The morning after he begins to regret his decision, no more so than when he runs into his socialite fiancée Jo (Russell) at a country side fox hunt.  His family also frowns on the marriage, which only furthers his depression.  Mona does feel that she loves Bob, but she’s also chummy with her agent/booker Ned Riley (Powell), a man about town, who just can’t admit his feelings for Mona.  When Bob kills himself in Ned’s hotel suite Mona is a suspect and is put in jail. Although she is eventually exonerated by the coroner, the prosecutor & public opinion have no trouble holding her morally responsible. 
Months later she gives birth to a son, which reignites the tabloids to go after Mona, as does the family.  When Mona offers to give up Bob’s money his father agrees to relinquish claims on the child.  Mona then decides she will raise the child her way & support them both by returning to the stage, but with nationwide boycotts threatened only Ned will finance a how; a secret he keeps from Mona until right before opening night.  When the blue blood protesters begin jeering her opening night performance Mona stops her song to at once chastise them and ask for a modicum of respect.  When she exits the stage Ned finally professes his love for her as the movie fades!
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Picture
​Thoughts: 
Released in the depths of the depression, it’s no mistake that Reckless at its core is a movie about class differences.  Rich people are rich, cold & depressed & working class people are caring, humorous & resilient.  The upper crust society, represented by the Harrisons is concerned with nothing but social position and money.  Mona’s sincere love for Tom is scoffed at by his family & friends so much so that it causes him to fight Jo’s brother.  Theirs is a world devoid of poverty, work or care.  They participate in fox hunts, buy out entire theatres for their amusement (or later solely to cat call Mona) & look down their noses at working folks.  The working class struggle for what they have, ‘invest’ in those around them & inject humor in the everyday.  It’s clear that to be rich is probably quite pleasant some of the time, it’s just not as much fun as being among the common folk!
The first time we meet Tom, after he has bought out the theatre to watch Mona, he is jovial and good natured, but at his core he clearly lusts after Mona, commenting “I’m practically in a cold shower now.  Care to join me?”  It’s a joke, but clearly reflects the thoughts he has about Mona.  Once the marriage has been consummated, it is also clear that the bloom has come off the rose, so to speak, & his remorse is evident.  He is selfish and self-centered, throwing a snit when his name is removed from the hunting party.  Mona, on the other hand, loves Tom sincerely and wants to fit in, going so far to search out the only decent person amongst Tom’s crowd, his fiancée Jo.  Only Jo’s vindictive rebound wedding casts her as one of the social elite, otherwise she is kind to Mona, and generally forgiving of Tom.  Tom, however, is consistent throughout, culminating in his profession “I’m just no good” that leads to his suicide.  His disdain for Mona and ‘her kind’ is evident when in a drunken stupor at Jo’s wedding he shouts that Ned & Mona should return to the carnival they came from.  The final and most damning example of the class difference plays out when Mona & Bob’s father fight for custody of the baby.  When Mona offers to give up Bob’s inheritance to keep the baby, Bob’s father doesn’t even blink an eye before giving up the child. His pathetic offer of aid for the child is wonderfully rebuffed by Mona when she says “your charity comes a little too late.  When I needed it there was no offer and now I don’t want it.”  Class, as depicted in Reckless is not defined by money, but by empathy, caring & self-sacrifice.
While Reckless was promoted as a drama, Mona’s performances & Ned’s humorous asides lend it an air of a backstage musical at times.  Unfortunately Harlow was no singer and not much of a dancer.  The wide angle shots of a stand in dancing don’t quite jive with the close ups and the lip syncing is good buy not great.  It’s only because Harlow is such a magnetic performer that these can be forgiven.  The mix of high drama and the musical elements, however, turned off audiences, resulting in Harlow’s first box office failure.
Similar to Bombshell, Harlow’s 1933 hit that borrowed heavily from her real life, Reckless drops in a couple reminders that Mona/Harlow are one and the same.  In Bombshell the homages were more to poke fun at Harlow’s family, while here the results would seem to be far more painful.  Because Harlow’s husband Paul Bern had shot & killed himself in 1932, having to reenact a husband shooting himself and Mona/Harlow discovering the body had to be difficult to relive.  Just as with Bern, the salacious tabloid headlines spun in montage in Reckless cast Mona/Harlow as being responsible for the death.  And just to put the final note on the whole affair, the district attorney’s line “technically it was a suicide, but morally it was murder” must have familiar for Jean, who was largely considered responsible for Bern’s death, if not having done the deed herself.
Reckless is an interesting attempt to broaden Harlow’s appeal and range, but ultimately only a middling effort for her.  The pairing of her with real life beau William Powell was a quick scheme on the part of MGM to take advantage of the romantic rumors, but this vehicle would have clearly been better suited to someone else.
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Picture
Category:  Drama
See Also:  The Girl From Missouri (’34), My Man Godfrey (’36), Bombshell (’33)
Random Notes & Quotes: 

*Virginia Verrill dubbed Harlow’s singing voice & Betty Halsey doubled her for the dance sequences

*During  filming of Reckless Harlow’s much bleached hair began falling out in clumps.  According to an MGM hair expert at the time they were mixing peroxide with ammonia, then adding Clorox & Lux flakes, which was killing the hair (Bombshell.  David Stenn. P.182).  Harlow wore a custom wig for the remainder of the shoot.

*Joan Crawford was slated to star in “A Woman Called Cheap,” but to take advantage of the budding relationship between Harlow & Powell MGM recast it & change the title to Reckless.
​
*Reckless was loosely based on the life of Libby Holman, a popular Broadway performer who married an heir to a tobacco fortune.  When he was found dead of a gunshot wound Holman was blamed & her career was ruined, even though she was exonerated.  Holman sued to stop production.
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  • Home
  • Top 10 Lists
    • My Top 10 Favorite Movies
    • Top 10 Heist Movies
    • Top 10 Neo-Noir Films
    • The Top 10 Films of the Troubles (1969-1998) >
      • The Troubles Selected Timeline
    • Top 10 Films from 2001
    • Director Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Film Noir Directors
      • Top 10 Coen Brothers Films
      • Top 10 John Ford Films
      • Top 10 Samuel Fuller Films
      • Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Films
      • Top 10 John Huston Films
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      • Val Lewton Top 10
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    • Top 10 Noir Films (Classic Era)
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    • Top 10 Actresses of the 1930's
  • Reviews
    • Quick Hits: Short Takes on Recent Viewing >
      • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
      • Elevator to the Gallows ('58)
      • Days of Heaven
      • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
      • Incindies (2010)
      • In the Mood For Love (2000)
      • Last Picture Show Teaser Intro
      • Le Silence De La Mer ('49)
      • The Princess Bride ('87) Intro
      • Pulp Fiction ('94) Intro
    • The 1910's >
      • The Lubitsch German Silents
    • The 1920's >
      • The Odessa Steps Sequence as Continuing Film History
      • Sunrise (1927)
      • Wild Orchids ('29)
    • The 1930's >
      • Becky Sharp (1935)
      • Blonde Crazy
      • Bombshell ('33)
      • The Cheat
      • The Conquerors
      • The Crowd Roars
      • The Divorcee
      • Frank Capra & Barbara Stanwyck: The Evolution of a Romance
      • Heroes for Sale
      • The Invisible Man (1933)
      • L'Atalante (1934)
      • Let Us Be Gay
      • My Man Godfrey
      • No Man of Her Own (1932)
      • Platinum Blonde ('31)
      • Reckless ('35)
      • The Sign of the Cross (1932)
      • The Sin of Nora Moran (1932)
      • True Confession ('37)
      • Virtue ('32)
      • The Women
    • The 1940's >
      • Casablanca (1942)
      • The Story of Citizen Kane
      • Criss Cross (1949)
      • Double indemnity
      • Jean Arthur in A Foreign Affair
      • The Killers 1946 & 1964 Comparison
      • The Maltese Falcon Intro
      • Moonrise (1948)
      • My Gal Sal (1942)
      • Nightmare Alley
      • Notorious Intro ('46)
      • Overlooked Christmas Movies of the 1940's
      • Pursued (1947)
      • Remember the Night ('40)
      • The Red Shoes (1948)
      • The Set-Up ('49)
      • They Won't Believe Me (1947)
      • The Third Man
    • The 1950's >
      • The Asphalt Jungle Secret Cinema Intro
      • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ('58) Intro
      • The Crimson Kimono (1959)
      • A Face in the Crowd (1957)
      • In a Lonely Place
      • A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
      • Mogambo ('53)
      • Niagara (1953)
      • The Night of The Hunter ('55)
      • Pushover Noir City
      • Rear Window (1954)
      • Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
      • Red Dust ('32 vs Mogambo ('53)
      • The Searchers ('56)
      • Singin' in the Rain Introduction
      • Some Like It Hot ('59) >
        • Some Like it Hot Intro (Beyond the Bay)
    • The 1960's >
      • The April Fools (1969)
      • Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
      • Cape Fear ('62)
      • Cool Hand Luke (1967) Intro
      • Dr Strangelove Intro
      • For a Few Dollars More (1965)
      • Fistful of Dollars (1964)
      • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
      • The Hustler ('61) Intro
      • The Man With No Name Trilogy
      • The Misfits ('61)
      • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg/La La Land
    • The 1970's >
      • Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
      • American Graffiti Introduction
      • Chinatown Introduction
      • The Friends of Eddie Coyle ('73)
      • Jaws Intro
    • The 1980's >
      • Blood Simple ('84)
      • A Christmas Story Intro
      • Scarface (1983)
    • The 1990's >
      • The General (1998)
    • 2000's >
      • Belfast (2021)
      • Blonde (2022)
      • Hunger (2008)
      • In Bruges (2008)
      • Joy Division
      • Mank (2020)
      • No Man's Land (2001)
      • Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
      • Wall-E
      • Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
      • The Top 10 Films I watched in 2020
  • Artists
    • Actors/Actresses >
      • Joan Blondell
      • Faye Dunaway: 1967-1976
      • The Noir Villainy of Dan Duryea
      • Clark Gable Bio
      • Jean Harlow Bio
      • Veronica Lake
      • Norma Shearer
    • Directors/Producers/Cinematographers >
      • Founders Series: Alice Guy-Blache
      • John Alton
      • Joan Harrison-Producer/Writer
      • Hitchcock & Cary Grant
      • William Wellman
    • Books >
      • Book Reviews >
        • Book Review: Clark Gable by D. Bret
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  • Resources
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      • Citizen Kane Notes
      • It's A Wonderful Life Notes
      • Rebel Without a Cause Notes
      • Singin' in the Rain Notes
    • CMBA Interview/Profile
    • Bay Cinema Society Press
    • Hollywood History >
      • Production Code
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  • Video Introductions
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  • Paul Verhoeven