BOMBSHELL, 1933, Warner Bros., 96 min. Victor Fleming’s positively breakneck-paced satire of Hollywood. Jean Harlow is at her peak as harried Lola Burns, a movie matinee idol being driven crazy by relentless press agent Lee Tracy. The movie she’s shooting with director heartthrob Pat O’Brien is modeled after RED DUST. Naughty double entendres fly fast and furious in this razor-sharp and unabashedly shameless screwball comedy. Co-starring Franchot Tone as a rich potential beau and Una Merkel.
RED DUST, 1932, Warner Bros., 83 min. Dir. Victor Fleming. Hot-blooded he-man Clark Gable, the manager of a Malaysian rubber plantation, falls hard for Jean Harlow, a wayfaring sexpot of questionable morals in this steamy, tropical soap opera. Mary Astor is the other lady in competition for Gable’s charms. MGM bosses were stepping way over the line with suggestive innuendoes and off-color hijinks in this big box office hit.