Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie took excellent money domestically and in Great Britain. In Australia, it was one of the big hits of 1932. COMMENT: Harlow swings her way through a comedy whose plot is rather similar to that of Love Is News (and its remake). She is beautifully photographed and most attractively costumed, whilst the director makes the most of her presence with delightfully long tracking shots and imaginative camera angles. And while the plot is familiar to us modern viewers, it is served up with wit. Harlow seems a bit unsure of herself in her earlier scenes, but really warms to the role as the film progresses and quite overshadows Loretta Young who has the nominal heroine role. The rest of the cast is very competent. Robert Williams, who died shortly after the film was made, was a natural and graceful player with the style and the voice of Lynn Overmann. Reg Owen and Halliwell Hobbes contribute some amusing bits of business. The film was produced on a lavish budget and Capra has directed with tremendous style and imaginative verve.OTHER VIEWS: Platinum Blonde loses track of itself about seven/eighths of the way through and comes to an unsatisfactory end. I mean nobody is rooting for the lackluster, thin-as-a-rake Loretta Young character when the hero is already bedded down with voluptuous Jean. Still,One for Harlow Robert Williams is an interesting personality (I always look him up whenever I see this film to see what else he starred in - I'd certainly like to see some of his other films) and the film has enough, wit, pace and get-up and go to sustain interest over several viewings. Some great character studies too from Halliwell Hobbes as a backsliding butler, Claude Allister as a superfluous flunkey and Louise Closser Hale as outraged mother. Walter Catlett, Reg Owen and the guy who plays the editor are amusing too. Stylish direction and camerawork. Other technical credits A-1. - JHR writing as George Addison.

Robert Williams plays a newspaper reported named "Stew Smith" who is too smart for his own good. Although he is most comfortable when he is with his best friend, named "Gallagher" (played by Loretta Young), he doesn't realize how much he enjoys her company until he meets and then marries a rich society woman named "Ann Schulyer" (Jean Harlow). At first he is quite smitten with her just as she is with him. But when she tries to change him things begin to come unraveled. Now, this story is totally predictable and being made in 1931 there aren't any risqué scenes that most people today might come to expect. It's pretty much all vanilla. That said, while Loretta Young played her part in a decent manner and Jean Harlow was very cute, I thought Robert Williams was simply outstanding. Again, it's an old film and some people might not value it as much because it's from another era. That's fine. But for those who are willing to make allowances and can appreciate something made during a different time then I honestly think they will enjoy this film.

Platinum Blonde (1931)*** (out of 4)Romantic-drama centered on a blue collar reporter (Robert Williams) who marries a society girl (Jean Harlow) even though his heart might be with an old friend (Loretta Young). It's been reported many times else where but I'll write it again, Williams would end up dying three days after the release of the film and one can't help but wonder what he would have done in his career had his life not taken such a sad turn. With Capra, Harlow and Young listed in the credits, there's no doubt that this film belongs to Williams. His performance was clearly very influential as the sleepy eyed reporter bit would be played many times in the future and one can't help but see the influence that started here. As far as the film goes, I don't think it was as good as its reputation but it's still a pretty good movie for the time. What will certainly draw most people to the movie is its stars Young and Harlow and both are them are quite good in the film. Harlow's role is pretty underwritten but her sex appeal still shines through. Young is as glamorous as ever but once again the film belongs to Williams. The film's one major flaw is that it's just way too predictable with nothing fresh every really happening. We all know the formula it's going to take and how it's going to end but the movie is still worth watching due to the three leads.

I saw this in February 2009 with a nearly full house at a theatre in NYC, and the crowd responded very minimally. Williams is solid, Young is gorgeous, but, as so many others have said, Harlow is miscast and, worst of all, the pacing is absolutely glacial. I know this was an early effort from Frank Capra, but it's hard to imagine he couldn't recognize that the picture moves much too slowly.The movie would have been much better if it had been sped up, if the actors had been encouraged to pick up the pace and keep things moving.It's a shame, given Williams' tragic death, that we didn't get to see how he might have shone under a director who worked more quickly. Heck, Capra himself would soon learn to keep things moving, but he clearly hadn't yet learned that lesson when he shot this picture. I'm surprised more reviewers haven't mentioned this fault of the film.I'm not sorry I saw it, but my wife sure was. She couldn't stand this slow-moving tortoise of a movie.