MovieChat Forums > Saratoga (1937) Discussion > Why concentrate on the 'macabre' elemen...

Why concentrate on the 'macabre' elements of this film?

posted 16 years ago by lindbergh25
7 replies | jump to latest

I admit, films like this - where the star died before production ended - prompt a certain amount of morbid curiosity (Natalie Wood in "Brainstorm" also comes to mind), but Saratoga has SO many other attributes, that I get a little impatient with viewers who downgrade the film because of the "double" scenes. Sure, they're awkward and obvious (although Mary Dees, in that long shot of the "tin cup" scene with Cliff Edwards, sure looks like Harlow!) - but we should all be glad MGM finished the film, because it preserved one last performance from this beloved actress. All the performers are great - Gable at his prime, dashing Walter Pidgeon, Barrymore and Frank Morgan providing some nice comic moments, fine support from Hattie McDaniel, Margaret Hamilton, Cliff Edwards and Una Merkel. I particularly enjoy the snappy dialog, which shows the talented hand of Anita Loos.
I've read that it was a sad and disquieting experience for the cast to complete the film with a double standing in for their late departed friend and colleague. But they did the work like the pros they were - 70 years ago - so let's not mar their efforts today with excessive hand-wringing.
One imdb reviewer pointed out that Jonathan Hale, who played Frank Clayton, committed suicide...but so did Clara Blandick of "Wizard of Oz", Douglas McPhail from "Babes in Arms" and Richard Quine of "Babes on Broadway" - among others. It's sad how things turned out for these actors, but should it overshadow the merit of their performances?
I say: Just enjoy Saratoga for the late-30s era MGM film that it is. Yes, it's bittersweet at times but, at the risk of being presumptuous, I think Harlow herself would want people to enjoy the movie as a fun romp, which it is - if you let it.

[–] XDumbledork 12 years ago

I've only just gotten the chance to see this movie today for the first time and I agree with everything you said here. While it's hard not to feel a pang of sadness over Jean's untimely death, I do agree that I think she'd want fans to enjoy the film and not focus on the sad circumstances that played out behind the scenes. I like to think of it as her final gift to her fans and it should be enjoyed for the fun movie that it is.

[–] jac91604 12 years ago

What great posts. I saw the film for the first time a few years ago, there are only a couple of scenes where it is obvious that it's not Harlow.

The way some people went on I thought it was going to be much more noticeable.

I agree, enjoy the film.

[–] Agamemnon7 12 years ago

I think she is in all of her scenes for the film's first seventy minutes, and then only in around half of them for the final half hour. I also think the very end was a last-minute patch job, a retread of the earlier scene on the train.

Jean is fun in the film, which is quite enjoyable overall.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 10 years ago

I enjoyed the film after it got going, which took a while, but Harlow's vivacity was diminished. Nonetheless it had some cracking moments and as the OP says the script showed Anita Loos's involvement.

Movement ends, intent continues;
Intent ends, spirit continues

[–] FilmKoala 10 years ago

If I may, people focus on the macabre elements if this film because plainly, it's incredibly difficult not to. Every time Jean Harlow appears on screen you're reminded that she was dying. You could even tell by looking at her that she wasn't doing well. And when you factor in that her death was a pretty painful one, you're reminded of just how much pain she had to of been in while filming. She was on her last legs, and those legs gave out before the film was completed. Hard to ignore that.

She was sick while filming Personal Property, but she was dying while making Saratoga.

[–] gary-64659 8 years ago

Agree with you FilmKoala. Gable was reported as saying he could smell the urine on Jean Harlow's breath in their scenes together. Apparently her death was made certain by her domineering mother's refusal to consider medical treatment due to ignorant religious superstitions. If people can't understand the sheer tragedy of Harlow's thoroughly avoidable death at 26 -- or don't want to dwell on it -- and just want an unspoilt movie romp -- how shallow is that? I can only believe they haven't read about the situation as it was in any real detail.

[–] JaneThree 8 years ago

The only reason this movie was released was to market to macabre interests. There's an article contemporaneous with the time, that interviewed movie goers, who all admitted they went to see the movie purely if they could see the point where Harlow (or "the poor girl") started dying.

To me it's a B level, generic MGM product of the time. It has all the usual supporting players like Frank Morgan, Una Merkel, and that big lug with the close together eyes who I think I've seen in practically every Gable movie and every Powell/Loy movie.

I've always read that movies were shot out of sequence. But this seems shot IN sequence, as Jean Harlow is in all the way through until the final fourth, when she basically disappears, except for a couple of scenes that were obviously shot at the same time and on the same set as earlier scenes were shot. Also, the woman who doubled for Harlow was markedly thinner than Harlow.

As for Gable smelling urine on Harlow's breath, I believe that was when she was in the hospital. She was reportedly unrecognizeable and looked like Fatty Arbuckle. What was concerning in this film was how badly bloated she was, how easily she tired.

Her death was NOT "avoidable." She died of renal failure. David Stenn and her relatives have released her medical records. There was no penicillan, no dialysis and no kidney transplant at the time. When your kidneys fail, you can survive as long as a certain percentage of your kidneys still function. When your kidneys pass that point, you're dead. Harlow's kidneys had been failing her for years, long before she hit H'wood. Looking back, many of her health problems, and hell, maybe even some of her romantic problems, are down to kidney failure (constantly going to the bathroom, for example). Nothing could have saved her. She had the best medical care available at the time. One of her doctors bungled and gave her extra fluid when she already had excruciating edema, but while that probably caused her discomfort, it didn't kill her. Kidney failure killed her. There was no cure.