“What’s the matter with American cities? This drama will show you.“
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Dir. Charles A. Brabin
86 mins. (or 74, or 90…)
Production: November 4, 1931 — December 1931 (AFI cites production ending in early December, David Stenn’s Bombshell lists it ending it November)
Release date: February 13, 1932
Release status: Available to watch free online and on DVD.
Cast: Walter Huston (Jim Fitzpatrick), Jean Harlow (Daisy Stevens/Mildred Beaumont), Wallace Ford (Ed Fitzpatrick), Jean Hersholt (Sam Belmonte), Dorothy Peterson (Mary Fitzpatrick), Tully Marshall (Michaels), John Miljan (District Attorney), Emmett Corrigan (Chief of Police), Warner Richmond (Tom), Sandy Roth (Mac), Julie Haydon (Woman in police line-up)
Summary: A well-meaning police officer (Walter Huston) and his brother (Wallace Ford) end up at odds over a platinum blonde stenographer (Jean Harlow) they’ve been trying to eke some gangland information out of while trying to clean up crime in their city.
Trivia:
- Harlow’s seventh film in under a year.
- Director Charles Brabin was the husband of a prior vamp sex symbol, Theda Bara.
- The Beast of the City is the only one of Jean Harlow’s films where her character dies.
- Jean Harlow’s Daisy keeps a framed picture of Clark Gable in her apartment. At the time of filming, Harlow and Gable had only costarred in MGM’s The Secret Six.
- Harlow ended up with The Beast of the City on account of her boyfriend at the time, MGM executive Paul Bern, who got the role of Daisy for her after she refused to star in the potentially career-busting Freaks (1932).
- Harlow’s success after this film culminated in an East Coast tour of personal appearances that spanned from December 1931 to April 1932. The tour ended when Harlow came home to put fresh ink on her reward for hard work, a seven-year MGM contract signed on April 20.
Stills and ad art:
Harlow Heaven 