Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell (1993)
Sharon Stone, who effortlessly embodies the Harlow-deco outline, is a perfect narrator for such a documentary—and she certainly isn’t to blame for the shallow mythology of the script, or the old-timey vaudeville songs it’s read to.
Two of my specific qualms with this documentary:
1. There’s the ancient spiel about Harlow longing to be an “old-fashioned housewife” which this doc admits should make sense because of how obedient she was to her mother—a problematic view in and of itself. While she definitely wanted marriage (and did it thrice), I doubt her ideal situation was old-fashioned, as she implied in an interview with Samuel Richard Mook, who characterized her as a ‘home girl:
“I hate that phrase,” she protested, “I don’t like excesses of any kind, either staying home too much or going out too much. I love swimming, golf, and riding. On the other hand I can’t play tennis. And I can’t sew a stitch.”
2. This doc also promotes the lie that “Harlow was sewn into gowns” and that she was “unable to go to the ladies’ room for hours at a time”. Sharon says this while resting on a standard leaning board, which many an actor used to avoid the creased costumes they’d get from sitting. Harlow was Harlow, though, so we have to make them sexy.
Harlow herself explained what those were to interviewer Wood Soanes on the set of Dinner at Eight (never was she sewn into anything):
“You see, at a real dinner it wouldn't matter much whether the dress were creased or not, after you made your first appearance in the drawing room. After the party you could have it pressed again. But we've been several days on this one scene and have shot various times at the party, so I must keep it creaseless each day. It would look silly, and all you critics would complain bitterly, if I stepped into the room with my dress all wrinkled and a second later it was transformed into a smooth garment, only to blossom out in new creases a moment later. Anyway, I'll be glad to get out of it. We should be finished with the picture in another day or so, and I'm going out after tuna."
Not the worst on Harlow in the world, but more a great display of Sharon Stone dripping in satin and diamonds.