Hold Your Man Reviews

Gable is a heel in this film, but one with a heart, and the girl he falls for is Harlow. After pulling off a caper and running from the police, Gable hides in Harlow's apartment and stays on to develop an affair. She gives up all for him, including sappy boy friend Erwin, but still she's worried about his wandering eye. To make him jealous she tells him that wealthy laundry owner Hurst has big plans for her and this gives Gable the idea of pulling a scam. He and pal Owen corner Hurst, but the laundry owner becomes feisty and, in a fight, is accidentally killed. Gable flees and Harlow is blamed for the death, being sent to prison for three years. Through Burgess, a former girl friend of Gable's and a cellmate of Harlow's, Gable learns that Harlow is pregnant with his child. Burgess has just been released from prison and her way has been made easier by good-natured Harlow, who has given her some contacts on the outside. She wants to return the favor, and Gable asks her to smuggle him into the women's prison. She does, arranging for a black preacher visiting his daughter to marry Gable and Harlow so the child will be legitimate. Police barge in just as the ceremony is completed and Gable is arrested and sent to prison. Harlow is released and is waiting for him with their child for a happy if sloppily sentimental reunion. The improbable story is punctuated with crackling dialog. At one point Gable tells Harlow: "Wait till you see how I'll grow on you." Playing the hooker with a heart (what else?), the wisecracking Harlow replies: "Yeah--like a carbuncle!" Wood's direction drags at times, particularly when he tries to infuse interest in the dull prison work Harlow is compelled to do. But the Gable-Harlow combination, begun with the steamy RED DUST, 1932, still sparkles with their electric personalities. Harlow married Rosson, the cinematographer of this film (he shot four of her films, this being the third), but after their 1935 divorce, MGM prudently gave the blonde bombshell another cameraman, Ray June.