Platinum Blonde is a 1931 film directed by Frank Capra.
Stew Smith (Robert Williams) is a reporter at a newspaper. He is best friends with a lovely lady reporter at the paper who is only ever called "Gallagher" (Loretta Young). Gallagher is besotted with Stew but because this is a movie he has no idea. Stew, reporting on a story, goes to the home of the rich, snobby Schuyler family. Stew enrages all the Schuylers by reporting on scion Michael Schuyler getting tagged in a breach-of-promise suit, but while there, he meets Michael's stunning sister Anne (Jean Harlow). Soon, Stew and Anne are married, with poor Gallagher left alone. But will the marriage of the hustling reporter and the high-class society lady work out?
Tropes:
- Alcohol Hic: Stew's rival reporter Bingy does this while getting drunk at the wild party at the Schuyler house.
- Answer Cut: One point of contention between Stew and Anne is her trying to force him to dress like a gentleman and wear "garters" (suspenders to hold up the socks). An argument in which she tries to coax him into wearing garters, and he continues to refuse, cuts to a shot of Stew's feet on the desk in the newsroom, garters on, as his coworkers laugh.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Ends with a big kiss between Gallagher and Stew as he says he's really loved her all along.
- Breach of Promise of Marriage: The story that initially draws Stew to the Schuyler mansion is young Michael Schuyler having to shell out $10K in a breach-of-promise suit by a chorus girl.
- Call-Back: As Stew is leaving the Schuyler mansion for good, he takes off the garters that Anne made him wear and gives them to a random bum.
- The Ghost: Gloria Golden, the chorus girl who sued Michael for breach-of-promise. Her suit kicks off the story, and Stew later gets the incriminating letters from her and returns them to the Schuylers which is how he earns Anne's trust, but Gloria never appears.
- Handshake Refusal: Dexter Grayson the lawyer is an arrogant ass, but he isn't really wrong to shake the hand of Bingy the sleazy reporter.
- High-Class Glass: Mrs. Schuyler makes a big show of looking at Stew, whom she regards as a lowlife, with the female equivalent of the high-class glass: a pair of glasses on a string (a lorgnette).
- Hitler Cam: An early use of this trope, and an unusual use of it in a romantic comedy. A camera on the ground points up to underscore the tension as Anne confronts Stew and Gallagher together, in a frosty meeting.
- Last-Name Basis: Gallagher is only ever called "Gallagher". This shows how she is trying to fit in to an otherwise all-male newsroom, and how Stew doesn't think of her as a woman. It also pays off in that Anne does not realize that the "Gallagher" Stew keeps talking about is a woman.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Towards the end, Gallagher suggests that Stew write his play about his Uptown Girl romance with Anne. After this, Stew starts calling out all the plot points of the story. He calls his walking out of the Schuyler mansion "the second act curtain."Stew: And that lawyer friend of hers, he'd make a great villain.
- Love Triangle: You can tell that Jean Harlow was just hitting the big time, as she actually loses the love triangle! Stew leaves her and gets together with Gallagher at the end.
- Malicious Misnaming: Conroy, a rival reporter who seems to dislike Stew, goads him about his marriage to Anne by calling him "Mr. Schuyler."
- Romantic Rain: A variation on this trope, as Stew and Anne are safe and dry inside, but the camera is outside, showing the pouring rain beating on the window as they kiss.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Gallagher wears such a dress to the big ball at the Schuyler mansion. It's cut lower in the back than it would have been a few years later under the Hays Code.
- Toros y Flamenco: What does the Spanish Ambassador dance at the Schuyler fancy ball? The flamenco, of course.
- Uptown Girl: Working-class reporter Stew falls for, and marries, filthy rich society lady Anne. Unlike many takes on this trope, it doesn't work out, as she keeps trying to change him into a snooty gentleman while being unwilling to live in his world.
- Write What You Know: In-Universe. Stew keeps setting his play in exotic locales like Norway, and getting nowhere. Gallagher points out that he doesn't know anything about Norway or Spain and that he should write about something he knows—like his disintegrating marriage to Anne. He takes her advice and writes the play in no time.
