Saratoga is not an especially memorable or excellent movie unto itself, but it is memorable for the reason that it was Jean Harlow's last. She would die when the movie was about 90 percent completed, and the rest of the film had to include a stand-in whenever her character would appear. This is something that gets extremely obvious and sticks out like a sore thumb later when "she" has her back to the camera at all times and has a big hat to cover her face. It's a shame that had to happen before the movie was finished, but that doesn't detract from the rest of the experience. The plot is centered around Clark Gable who plays Duke Bradley, a bookie for horse races. Carol Clayton (Jean Harlow) announces that she is going to marry a rich guy named Hartley (Walter Pidgeon), and Carol's family is forced to give Duke the deed to their farm to get rid of gambling debt. Later on, Carol sells her horse Moonray, but not before Hartley asks Grandpa Clayton to train him. The rest of the movie is basically centered around the horse racing, but soon, Carol tells Duke she likes him instead of Hartley. At the end of the movie, despite Hartley getting somebody else to train Moonray, the horse loses. The film ends with Carol and Duke on a train singing a song about the horses. Despite its rather complicated story and lack of any spectacular moments, Saratoga was the highest grossing movie of 1937, and this can basically be attributed to nothing but Harlow's death. To say that it took the country by surprise would be an understatement. She had been one of the movie industry's most important female icons, and her sudden end at only the age of 26 devastated the industry. Even newspapers felt the event was more important than Hitler's ambitions in europe at the time. We'll never know what things she might have worked on past this, so this is the one we're stuck with as her last screen appearance.
Review of Saratoga
