Hold Your Man
Directed by Sam Wood
Written by Anita Loos and Howard Emmett Rogers from a story by Loos
1933/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] Ruby: Wait a minute. I got two rules I always stick to when I’m out visitin’: keep away from couches – and – stay on your feet.[/box]
When Sassy Jean Harlow meets con artist Clark Gable the sparks fly.
Con artist Eddie Hall (Gable) flees into the unlocked apartment of Ruby Adams (Harlow) to avoid being nabbed by police. This being 1933, she is taking a bubble bath at the time. Ruby covers for Eddie when the police come knocking on her door. The attraction between the two is unmistakable but Ruby is no pushover.
Eventually the two get together. Ruby is uncomfortable with Eddie’s life style the whole time. He spends time in jail and when he gets out she agrees to participate in a plan to blackmail a married admirer. Things go terribly wrong, he takes off, and she ends up in a women’s reformatory. Can love survive her incarceration?
This has premarital sex and illigetimacy to give it pre-Code credentials but the main draw is the exceptional chemistry of the stars and the non-stop wise cracks and double entendres. Recommendecd.
