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This Frank Capra comedy from 1931 helped define the screwball-comedy genre that became so popular with films like It Happened One Night and The Awful Truth. In this witty romp, Jean Harlow plays an upper-crust socialite who bullies her reporter husband (Robert Williams) into conforming to her highfalutin ways. The husband chafes at the confinement of high society, though, and yearns for a creative outlet. He decides to write a play and collaborates with a fellow reporter (Loretta Young); the results are unexpectedly hilarious, especially when Young shows up at the mansion with a gaggle of boozehound reporters in tow. With snappy, ribald dialogue (allowable in those pre-Hays Code days), Capra keeps the gags flying fast and furious, taking special delight in having Williams's journalist pals rib him endlessly over his kept-man status. Platinum Blonde was a great success at the time of its release during the class-conscious Depression; for better or worse, its star Harlow was identified with the tag 'platinum blonde' until her untimely death. --Jerry Renshaw
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Legacy of Robert Williams
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake
Jean Harlow and Loretta Young may be the legendary stars of this 1931 Frank Capra comedy about a newspaperman who marries into high society, but the real star of the film is Robert Williams, who plays the reporter. His engaging on-screen light comic persona is reminiscent of the late Lee Tracy and one wonders why he did not have a significant career in the ... Read More
Rating:  - Platinum Blond
A very amusing tale of role reversal. A wealthy woman involved with an "average joe" who still wants the
independence to live his life without the yoke of high society's false "airs."
Rating:  - A Senseless Jibe; but Jean Harlow is beautiful and Loretta Young is adorable
This is not the best work of director Frank Capra who is known for one of the greatest classics ever made in Hollywood, "It's a Wonderful Life." Nevertheless this movie is played out to the desire of Columbia studios to promote Jean Harlow. No one ever complains about the casting, but the theme of the movie, set in depression era (1931) is lame. Jean Harlow plays the only daughter of upper-class socialite, Ann Schuyler who marries a shrewd newspaper reporter Stew (Robert Williams), and then tries to ... Read More
Rating: - Cinderella Man and The Platinum Blonde
Platinum Blonde remains a fine example of an early screwball comedy about very different people trying to coexist with each under stressful situations with plenty of silly lines and good laughs on the side. The script is certainly not the best you'll ever find but the actors do a superlative job with what they are given. The direction by Frank Capra reflects forethought and the camera angles help dramatize scenes in the movie as the plot unfolds.
The story starts with newspaper reporter Stew ... Read More
Rating: - Give it a Few Tries
Platinum Blonde is the story of a newspaper reporter (Robert Williams), one of the best. His job is to investigate a scandal with one of the best known families, the Schuylers. He's so clever, he gets them to admit to a story against their will, but in the process is captured by the eye of beautiful daugher Anne (Jean Harlow). Although he scoops them, he also helps them out of the mess and makes his way into the family by eloping with Anne. This hurts his pal Gallagher (Loretta Young) who has loved him for ... Read More
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