Hold Your Man

A disappointing misfire, Hold Your Man details the tumultuous relationship that eventually ensues between a slick con artist (Clark Gable’s Eddie) and a cynical woman named Ruby (Jean Harlow). The degree to which Hold Your Man peters out is nothing short of devastating, ultimately, as the picture, written by Anita Loos and Howard Emmett Rogers, opens with a thoroughly (and impressively) engaging opening stretch that effectively establishes the two central characters – with, in particular, the sequence that kicks off the narrative, which follows Eddie as he swindles his latest mark out of some cash, certainly far more entertaining and fun than one might’ve anticipated. And while the chemistry (and banter) between Gable and Harlow’s respective figures remains an ongoing delight, Hold Your Man segues into a meandering midsection that contains exceedingly (and distressingly) little in the way of forward momentum – with the increasingly arms-length atmosphere eventually compounded by a hopelessly uninvolving third act set within a reformatory. The heavy, unsubtle moralizing of this portion of the proceedings ensures that the movie becomes less and less interesting as it builds towards its anticlimactic finish, which does, in the final analysis, confirm Hold Your Man‘s place as a misguided endeavor that feels like it should be so much better.

** out of ****