Platinum Blonde

Frank Capra's 1931 comedy begins with the reporter Stew Smith marrying into a wealthy society family. Ann sets about making her husband fit her circle's rules; Stew tightens inside the mansion and wants to write, to put together a play. The partnership he strikes up with his colleague Gallagher exposes how confined the marriage is. The film's real centre is Robert Williams's Stew, an easy, fast-talking performer with natural comic timing who died within days of the film's release and left very little behind. Jean Harlow's name was pushed to the front and the title was chosen to point at her hair, though her part carries less weight than that suggests. It is an early sketch of the class comedy Capra would build out over the following years. Who it's for: viewers who enjoy pre-Code Hollywood comedy and early Capra. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a film centred on Harlow; the lead is elsewhere.