talisencrw After seeing this, my third film from the 7-DVD 'Jean Harlow 100th Anniversary Collection' from Warner Archives, I'm very tempted to say, without exaggerating, that perhaps she was the first 'modern' actress (though Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford would also be in the running). Her speech was very fast by that era's standard, she displayed a huge range of emotion, was incredibly sexy and was great at both comedy and drama.This was great, as she's a chorus girl from a poor family in the Midwest who wants to marry a millionaire but the right way, and without sacrificing her values in the process. At first she's not taken seriously, as she meets a wealthy banker (finely played by Lionel Barrymore) who knows what it's like to be on the poor side of the tracks, and enters his social circle. Then his playboy son (a very good performance by Franchot Tone, whom I liked best in 'Mutiny on the Bounty', his only Oscar-nominated work) takes a shine to her, unsure if she's the real thing or just another floozy.Heartily recommended. Not a great script, but it's lifted with Harlow's personality, jolly comedic relief by Patsy Kelly and a solid supporting cast, decently directed. For single-handedly saving Warner Brothers from bankruptcy just the previous year, she deserved better but this wasn't a bad showcase at all for her considerable talents.

blanche-2 Jean Harlow is "The Girl from Missouri" in this 1934 film that ran afoul of the production code and had to be cleaned up. Gone is the tough, sexy gal who's been around the block too many times to count. Now she's cheap-looking but wants the ring on her finger before anything else.Jean Harlow is Eadie, and she's a delight in this film, which also stars Franchot Tone as the object of her affections, Lionel Barrymore as his father, and Patsy Kelly as her good friend. Eadie sets her sights on an old man, Cousins (Lewis Stone) at a party he throws; he's broke and has just asked T.R. Paige (Barrymore) for a loan. He doesn't get it. Eadie enters, and Cousins gives her his ruby cuff links, which she won't take because they're not engaged. Cousins, knowing he's about to blow his brains out, agrees to marry her, so she takes the cuff links. Before she knows it, he's dead, and she's slipped the cuff links to Paige so she won't be accused of stealing them.Eadie then sets her sights on Paige and follows him to Palm Beach, where she meets a young man (Franchot Tone) who turns out to be T.R. Paige Jr. She's wildly attracted to him, but he's a playboy. Will he fall for her? Can it work? Good movie. Tone is smooth and elegant. I've never cared for Patsy Kelly; she always seems to be shouting, and she's very stagy. Barrymore is good as always.So the pure Jean, still with the platinum blonde hair, makes her debut in this film governed by the Hays Code. A shame her career wasn't longer. She had a wonderful screen presence.

ksf-2 In this film, made JUST as the production code was being enforced, Jean Harlow is Eadie, and Patsy Kelly is the wisecracking, man-chasing sidekick "Kitty". Girl from Missouri starts out with the girls getting on a train, with Eadie making a promise to herself to earn money while looking for a millionaire husband, staying whole-some in the process. It doesn't take her long to meet up with Frank Cousins, (Lewis Stone, was the kindly Doctor in Grand Hotel, as well as Judge Hardy in the "Andy Hardy" films.), but all is not as it seems...The censors must have LOVED Harlow's line "A girl couldn't accept an expensive gift like that from a gentleman unless she was engaged." Later, someone says "You know we've never been alone together" and Eadie replies "Yeah, and we're not going to be!" Lionel Barrymore is T.R. Paige, another rich, uppercrust who comes to her rescue when trouble comes looking for Eadie. At one point, Paige declares "You oughta scratch me off your list - I'm not a ladies man".... I wonder what that line would have been just a couple years earlier before the Hayes code came rolling into town. What was he really saying? Carol Tevis seems to be the high-pitched "Baby Talker" as listed in the credits on IMDb. Looks like she was only in showbiz from 1931 - 1939, with "Munchkin" in Wizard of Oz being the last part she played. Fun, cleancut romp as the girls chase men around the country. Look for Nat Pendleton as the lifeguard, who was an Olympic Wrestler 1920 (silver medal winner) turned film star (he was in many of the Dr. Kildares, and would appear in four of Harlow's films.) Mistaken identity, plot twists, a young Franchot Tone, love stories, even Jean Harlow in a bathing suit in "Palm Beach", although the outdoor scenes of downtown appear to be a backdrop.

chris-459 I'm a Jean Harlow fan, because she had star quality. I don't think her movies are good and I don't even think that she was a good actress, but she certainly was Great in comedies. Every bit of comedy in The Girl from Missouri is very good. But this movie is perhaps more like a love story. Jean Harlow is wonderful in this one and you can forget the rest of the cast - their performances bring nothing new. It always impresses me much to think that Harlow's beautiful body was that of an ill woman. Well, in this movie she does look beautiful.