Movie of the Week: Saratoga (1937)

This week is Jean Harlow’s final film, Saratoga (1937).

Clark Gable is Duke Bradley, a bookie who acquires the deed to the Brookdale horse ranch because the owner, Mr. Clayton (Jonathan Hale) owes him a lot of money. When Clayton dies, his daughter Carol (Harlow), who dislikes Bradley, is determined to get the horse ranch back in the family by winning horse races to pay Bradley back. Meanwhile, Bradley tries to bait Carol’s rich fiancée (Walter Pidgeon) to place bets with him.

This film is infamous for being Jean’s final film. She died quite suddenly of renal failure when the film was 90% complete. After collapsing on set while filming the library scene with Pidgeon, she never returned to the set, dying a few days later. She was 26.

The tragedy surrounding it aside, it’s just an okay film for me; certainly not Clark and Jean’s best. If you find horse racing terribly exciting, then I suppose this film is your cup of tea. MGM had shelved it, not knowing what to do with it after Jean’s sudden death. Fans were outraged when the rumors circulated that MGM was thinking of re-shooting the whole thing with another actress (Virginia Grey, Jean Arthur and Joan Crawford were all considered). To appease the masses, the script was re-worked and most of Harlow’s remaining lines were given to supporting players (Hattie McDaniel emerges as a real scene-stealer as a result and Una Merkel gets more attention from Clark). They hired C-list actress Geraldine Dvorak to do the close-up shots, since her face somewhat resembled Jean’s. Dancer Mary Dees was to be Harlow’s body stand-in, covering her face in big hats, binoculars and weird camera angles. Radio personality Paula Winslowe was hired to dub in Harlow’s voice. She did the best she could to get the Harlow squawk down, but it isn’t very convincing.

It was one of the biggest box office successes of the year thanks to its notoriety.

Clark is playing his typical rogue in this one–a bookie who swindles and manipulates everyone with a sly smile on his face, telling everyone “I love ya!” This scene, where he hides under Jean’s couch, is my favorite.

Clark and Jean always have great chemistry and this film is no exception. It’s just a sad experience watching this, seeing the “fake Jean” pop up and knowing the actors were playing opposite a ghost.

That fake Jean first pops up about an hour into the film, sporting binoculars while watching a race, turning to Clark and Walter while talking to them so she never faces the camera, her voice not quite right for Jean.

The ending of the film is just unused footage from a previous train scene, thrown in there to show Clark and Jean happy together. One wonders what the real ending was supposed to be.

Trying to make up for the loss of a fully functioning leading lady, the supporting cast in this one is nothing to scoff at:

Pidgeon plays the sappy vanilla boyfriend that the gal casts aside for Clark just as he would again the following year in Too Hot to Handle.

Lionel Barrymore, a frequent co-star of Clark’s, is here as Jean’s snappy old Grandpa who doesn’t let anyone get away with anything. “I’m going to go out behind the barn and get drunk!” is one of his first lines. You also have Frank Morgan as the stuttering cosmetics bigshot who marries Clark’s old pal Una Merkel and is constantly jealous of how friendly Una and Clark are.

There’s Hattie McDaniel again, playing Jean’s maid just as she did in last week’s picture, China Seas.  Hattie and Clark already have a great onscreen back and forth, which would serve them well two years later in Gone with the Wind. “I’d fix up for him anytime; if he was only the right color, I’d marry him!” she tells Jean.

When Jean Harlow was admitted to the hospital, she brought her copy of “Gone with the Wind” with her, declaring that she was determined to finish it. Sadly, she never did and little did she know she had just been sharing a set with the future Rhett Butler and Mammy.

Nutshell review is here