Red Headed Woman (1932)

This movie was very interesting - especially considering when it was made. Jean Harlow is Lil "Red" Andrews, a woman of loose morals. She works as a secretary for the Legendre Company. She decides to seduce her boss, Bill Legendre, to climb the social ladder. Eventually Bill's wife, Irene, gets fed up with his cheating and divorces him. Lil sees this as her big opportunity and convinces Bill to marry her. However, her plans of being the social butterfly are crushed. No one in decent society will have anything to do with her. The last straw for Lil comes when she is not invited to a ball honoring C.B. Gaerste, a friend of the Legendre family in from New York. She hatches a plan to make everyone in society love her and her work begins by seducing Mr Gaerste. Will her big plans work or will they blow up in her face?

This movie was made in the era of forbidden Hollywood. This was the era when movie standards were suggestions and not required. Harlow is mesmerizing as the conniving Lil. Una Merkel is also terrific as Lil's friend Sally. This movie was recently released on DVD with two other films from the era - Baby Face (1933) and Waterloo Bridge (1931). This one is worth checking out.