Dumped into the Warner Archives
With so many of Jean Harlow's films - even gems such as "Bombshell" - still missing on DVD, fans have been hoping the long-promised boxed set would finally arrive this year. A boxed set of her own on pressed DVD to celebrate her one hundredth birthday. Instead, what we get are a few overpriced DVD-Rs in the Warner Archive series and this boxset - on DVD-R as well. Surely this is very bad taste. Shame on you, Warner! A few of these films ("Reckless", for example) have been available on DVD in Europe for a while - but not in the United States. Isn't it strange how the American cultural heritage is neglected by that company? Whoever is responsible for releasing this on DVD-R, must have written "unprecedented ignorance" as their main qualification on their application form. I don't like this product => only two stars. Jean Harlow deserves better than that.
JEAN HARLOW'S BELATED 100TH BIRTHDAY PRESENT
About a year ago, Warner Home Video released one of their "TMC Classic Film Collections" in honor of Jean Harlow and I reviewed that(as did many others) as a poor representation of this great star from Hollywood's Golden Era(1930's)considering that 2011 was her Centential year and she deserved much better treatment. I wasn't alone. Many Jean Harlow fans felt the same and voiced their opinions that her work at MGM(she made 16 films for that studio between 1931 and 1937) deserved at least a box set or even two. Well, the people at Warner must have been listening, because they have now released that box set titled: "Jean Harlow: 100th Anniversary Collection" thru their Warner Archive Collection. And that's the problem. While one could be thankful that the seven films in this collection cover her most important films, I have mixed feelings about this set after spending days watching these films(in the order that they were made). I suppose Warner Home Video considers this to be a companion...
About Time!!!
Seeing so many so-called "Platinum Editions", it was deplorable that among them, there wasn't any good "Platinum Girl Edition" - until now!!! It was about time to honor Jean Harlow's Work which is now done with a 100th Anniversary Collection. This Collection features seven Harlow Classics formerly difficult to get in good quality: Bombshell (1933), The Girl From Missouri (1934), Reckless, Riff Raff (1935), Suzy (1936), Personal Property, Saratoga (1937). Some of them are rather weak movies, but even in those, Harlow is not only of a radiant and unique beauty, but offers a remarkably elaborated and distinguished performance which is worth watching. In other words, even a bad Harlow movie gives us the opportunity to see Harlow as a real actress and not only as a sex bomb. Every Harlow movie has some magic moments, and the magician is one of the most underrated actresses ever. And at least two movies ("The Girl From Missouri" and "Bombshell") are real Harlow Classics and much more than...
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