Red-Headed Woman

Directed by Jack Conway, Red-Headed Woman follows Jean Harlow’s Lillian Andrews as she essentially (and effectively) sleeps her way into high society. It’s a bold, ahead-of-its-time premise that’s employed to slightly overlong yet mostly rewarding effect by Conway, as the filmmaker, armed with Anita Loos’ screenplay, delivers a salacious drama that benefits substantially from the captivating, magnet efforts of its star – with Harlow’s bold and bresh performance going a long way towards perpetuating the movie’s consistently watchable (and periodically spellbinding) atmosphere. And while the 79 minute runtime admittedly does boast a small handful of lulls, Red-Headed Woman builds towards an compelling third act that’s capped off with an almost impressively happy ending for its scheming central character – with the end result a solid vehicle for Harlow’s force-of-nature turn as the gleefully unrepentant protagonist.

*** out of ****