With gross rentals of $2 million, number 1 at U.S./Canadian ticket windows for 1937. The movie fared less spectacularly in Australia but still took great money, coming in at 20th place on the year's top box-office attractions.
COMMENT: Ironically the first scene in which a double was required occurs right after Harlow's sick-room scene with Gable - a scene at the race-track with the double disguised by binoculars and then turning her back very obviously and very clumsily to the camera. Harlow had completed the long shot outside the box and this is used at the end of the scene.
The following scene is entirely the double, this time disguised very awkwardly with a large floppy picture hat despite the fact that the scene takes place entirely indoors and talking on the telephone at that, in which wearing the picture hat seems even more contrived and unnatural. Then the ball-room scene, a very obvious use of the double with her back to the camera at the beginning and end of the scene. Fortunately, Harlow had completed the main portion of the dialogue, all occurring on the terrace outside the ball-room just before she died - is it imagination or does she really look strained? Then the final race scenes, again with the double with the binoculars in the box.
Fortunately the final close-up of Harlow and Gable on the train had been shot some time before when the other train sequences were filmed.
Conway directs throughout in his usual style, very long takes, good use of a moving camera, an occasional reaction shot insert but very little use of reverse angles. Conway must have been a hot favorite in the editor's department for there was very little the editor had to do other than to trim the slates and join one camera load of footage to another!
Unfortunately the script is rubbish. Gable and Harlow do what they can with their junk one-dimensional characters; but Lionel Barrymore revels in this sort of garbage and so to a lesser extent do Una Merkel and to a lesser extent still, Frank Morgan. Cliff Edwards seems right at home too! Needless to say, Conway directs it all at his usual crackerjack speed!
COMMENT: Ironically the first scene in which a double was required occurs right after Harlow's sick-room scene with Gable - a scene at the race-track with the double disguised by binoculars and then turning her back very obviously and very clumsily to the camera. Harlow had completed the long shot outside the box and this is used at the end of the scene.
The following scene is entirely the double, this time disguised very awkwardly with a large floppy picture hat despite the fact that the scene takes place entirely indoors and talking on the telephone at that, in which wearing the picture hat seems even more contrived and unnatural. Then the ball-room scene, a very obvious use of the double with her back to the camera at the beginning and end of the scene. Fortunately, Harlow had completed the main portion of the dialogue, all occurring on the terrace outside the ball-room just before she died - is it imagination or does she really look strained? Then the final race scenes, again with the double with the binoculars in the box.
Fortunately the final close-up of Harlow and Gable on the train had been shot some time before when the other train sequences were filmed.
Conway directs throughout in his usual style, very long takes, good use of a moving camera, an occasional reaction shot insert but very little use of reverse angles. Conway must have been a hot favorite in the editor's department for there was very little the editor had to do other than to trim the slates and join one camera load of footage to another!
Unfortunately the script is rubbish. Gable and Harlow do what they can with their junk one-dimensional characters; but Lionel Barrymore revels in this sort of garbage and so to a lesser extent do Una Merkel and to a lesser extent still, Frank Morgan. Cliff Edwards seems right at home too! Needless to say, Conway directs it all at his usual crackerjack speed!