Three Wise Girls

In her last film before she signed her MGM contract, Jean Harlow starred in Three Wise Girls along with Mae Clarke and Marie Prevost for Columbia. If this sounds familiar Warner Brothers was also doing Three On A Match around the same time and it had some similar plot elements.

While Prevost seems to have a really good deal working at home sending out letters with advertisements for various companies both Harlow and Clarke get themselves involved with married men, for one of them it turns out really bad. Prevost seems to have the right idea.

Playing opposite Harlow is Walter Byron who had a run of minor popularity in silent films, but whose career gradually petered out in sound films. He sounds like George Brent in his speech pattern and voice, but looks like Charley Chase. I'm betting that's why he didn't succeed in sound.

This film was filled with tragedy with both Harlow and Prevost dying way too young within six years. Three Wise Girls is far from the best work of these fatally star crossed actresses.

Jean Harlow plays a nice girl who is not willing to sell herself to get ahead. When her bosses try to sexually harass her, she quits--she's just not that sort of girl. So, in light of this, it's surprising when she meets and dates a nice guy--only to discover that he's already married and his estranged wife won't give him a divorce. At the same time, Harlow's friend (Mae Clark) is in a similar situation but her married boyfriend is less than honorable.

The idea of a girl dating a married man is something you just wouldn't have seen two years later--after the Production Code was strengthened and eliminated plot elements such as adultery, premarital sex or extreme violence (among others). However, despite the film trying to justify Harlow's dating a married man, the film is not nearly as salacious as some of the more notorious Pre-Code films, such as Harlow's RED-HEADED WOMAN--a film you just need to see to believe.

Overall, this is a pretty good little film despite the less than stellar and inconsistent message about morality that the film delivers. Good acting, a decent story and enough twists and turns to keep it interesting make this a good Pre-Code film.

By the way, the other "wise girl" is Marie Prevost who was included mostly for comic relief. Also, if you really care, Chillocothe is a small town in rural southern Ohio. It's best known today as a town with prisons!

Cassie (Jean Harlow) works in a coffee shop, but is sick of putting up with the drunks that come in....its only 1932, so things are still allowed to be a little on the rough side. She leaves that job and goes to visit her friend Gladys, who may be able to get her a job as a model at Andre's (Armand Kaliz) dress shop. Gladys introduces Cassie to the dashing "Arthur" (Jameson Thomas) and "Jerry" (Walter Byron), where things start to heat up. Good story, good acting by all. The story really isn't that original, but with such a professional job done by all involved, its quite enjoyable to watch. Viewers will catch Andy Devine in one of his early CREDITED roles as the chauffeur.. he will go on to play larger, funnier roles. Shortie from Columbia Pictures, at just 68 minutes. The only really risqué part is when one of the girls spends some time talking about a weenie that's cooking on the stove. I guess at the time, seeing a married man was also a huge taboo subject for films, or would be when the film code started being enforced. Story by Wilson Collison, who had also written the "Maisie" series, and "Mogambo", which starred Clark Gable. "Three Wise Girls" is directed by William Beaudine, who had been making films since 1915... he must have been standing there when the camera was invented; his bio says he was assistant to D.W. Griffith, so he certainly learned from the best. Lots of little connections here... Harlow and Gable would make six films together in the 1930s.

It's early Harlow in a role that doesn't require her signature sparkle. Still, there's enough shine to get noticed. The movie itself is nothing special, reminding me a bit of a cut-rate Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Here shapely working-class girls Clarke and Harlow try to satisfy their hearts' desire by marrying well; at the same time, they must dodge the inevitable mashers. Seems however their rich gentlemen already have wives, so that becomes a problem. Still, we get to see Harlow wiggle in and out of costumes in what would become part of her appeal. Have to say I didn't recognize the familiar Andy Devine under all that chauffeur's uniform. Too bad he didn't get more screen time. Then there's Marie Provost, the wise-cracking third girl, whose rather chubby figure presaged an eventual tragic end (IMDB), cutting short a promising Patsy Kelly-type career.

There's one really jolting scene that's sneaky as heck. Broken hearted, Gladys (Clarke) peers down from stories above street level. We think we know what she's planning, but as it turns out, we don't. Anyway, it's a really well thought-out sequence in an otherwise unexceptional screenplay. All in all, the 60-some minutes amounts to a good look at a pre-celebrity Harlow, along with Mae Clarke, who at least doesn't have to eat grapefruit courtesy Jimmy Cagney.

Is Three Wise Girls a high point of spectacular American cinema? No, but that's not was I was expecting. I was expecting an entertaining movie and that's exactly what I got.

I'm a huge Jean Harlow fan and was so excited to see a new (to me) movie of hers. I was not disappointed. While I don't think she sparkled on screen like she did in her later films, she gave a solid and completely believable performance.

The plot was predictable, but well executed. I thought the character development was a bit thin, but that's to be expected from a movie that clocks in at just over one hour. (I actually love the short running times of some classic movies: that means you can watch more of them in an evening.)

Three Wise Girls tells a story that's been told many times (small town girl moves to the city and has a rough time), but it tells the story well. And, most importantly, it tells the story with Jean Harlow.