[5]

Jean Harlow and William Powell star in this romantic comedy about a Broadway singer who impulsively marries a wealthy playboy (Franchot Tone) before realizing her true love is really her long-time agent (Powell). Powell’s droll, sardonic humor fits Reckless nicely, but Harlow isn’t quite charismatic enough to make her part work. It doesn’t help that her character is a singer and a dancer — two skills Harlow clearly doesn’t have (her singing voice was dubbed by another performer). There’s no denying she has the ‘it’ factor, though, and manages some good exchanges with her co-stars.

Powell’s scenes with May Robson are the best in the movie. Robson plays Harlow’s grandmother, the only character who seems to know Powell and Harlow are destined to be together. Powell and Robson work so well together, one wonders if the film shouldn’t have refocused itself on a May/December romance between them. This sort of love triangle is predictable, but Reckless surprises viewers in its last twenty minutes when it takes a one-eighty into tragedy. It’s not enough to distinguish the movie, but a script that bewilders itself out of formula has to count for something. The three music numbers are bad. Ted Healy and Nat Pendleton, as Powell’s bickering right-hand dudes, are so good you wish there was more of them. Rosalind Russell and Mickey Rooney also appear. Directed by Victor Fleming.