Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Red-Headed Woman
Directed by Jack Conway
Written by Anita Loos from a book by Katharine Brush
1932/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 1

Lil Andrews: Listen, Sally, I made up my mind a long time ago, I’m not gonna spend my whole life on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.
Sally: Well, I hope you don’t get hit by a train while you’re crossing over.

Jean Harlow makes a good pre-Code temptress.

Lil Andrews (Harlow) works in an office and is roommates with the wise-cracking Sally (Una Merkel).  She has decided that her best route to wealth is through seducing her married boss Bill Legendre Jr. (Chester Morris).  Bill is not an easy catch because he is in love with his wife Irene (Leila Hyams) who he has known since he was a child.  But Harlow is absolutely relentless and, well, she is an expert at breaking down resistance.  Once she has hooked him, they are surprised by Irene.  A divorce soon follows and Bill marries Lil.

Bill ran with the country club set.  All his friends look down on Lil both because of their friendship with Irene and because her sense of taste and decorum are strictly from the other side of the railroad tracks.  Bill is quickly tired of Lil.  But Lil is determined to climb the social ladder and there are other patsies waiting in the wings.  With Charles Boyer as a chauffeur.

This film made an interesting contrast with Baby Face (1933).  I found Barbara Stanwyck the more sympathetic of the anti-heroines, probably because her film took time to show her backstory.  Harlow’s character comes off more like a stalker.  Don’t get me wrong the film is enjoyable and Harlow makes a gorgeous red head.  I love Una Merkel and her scenes were the best in the film as far as I was concerned.