SUZY. MGM, 1936. Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Cary Grant, Lewis Stone, Benita Hume, Reginald Mason, Inez Courtney. Co-screenwriter: Dorothy Parker (one of four). Director: George Fitzmaurice.

   So far as I can tell, and I may very well be wrong about this, here’s a movie with both Cary Grant and Jean Harlow in it, and it’s not available on DVD. It was released at one time on VHS, and I recently taped a copy from TCM, but there’s no other commercial release that I’m aware of.

   And why, you might ask, might that be? I wonder if it’s because Cary Grant’s image takes a beating in this movie. He probably played cads in movies other than in this one, but I hope I won’t be giving too much away to say that in the second half of this historical adventure drama he’s about as despicable as he can get.

   As a down-and-out American showgirl in England, though, circa 1914, it’s really Jean Harlow’s film, all the way.

   Franchot Tone is her lover and husband in the first half, the latter for less than an hour, a carefree inventor of airplane motors who whisks Suzy Trent (that’s Jean Harlow) off her feet before being killed by a gang of spies, or so Suzy believes.

   And thinking she’ll be accused of the crime, Suzy heads off for France, which is where Cary Grant comes in. As a French war ace, he sweeps Suzy off her feet again, only to dump her in his father’s mansion while he heads off for the just declared war. And immediately returns to his carefree womanizing ways, the bounder.

   I promised myself that I would refrain from telling you the complete story, and I haven’t, not yet, at least. I suppose I can safely add that the first half of the story eventually meets up with the second half, which is a lot more somber.

   Wars have a way of doing that with stories, and the mood certainly changes once the Andre leaves Suzy and heads off for the front.

   I’ve never been overly impressed with Jean Harlow’s acting ability, but as a screen personality, she was second to almost none, and that holds true for Suzy as well, especially in the first half of this film — but in the second half as well, where she wins over disapproving Andre’s father (Lewis Stone) in her own charming way, as only someone exactly like Jean Harlow could.

   What part of the story Dorothy Parker wrote I don’t know, but I have to think she had something to do with the first half, which remains cheerful and light, in spite of the protagonists’ mutual lack of funds.

   Living in poverty, if it can be refused to be taken seriously, sometimes does that to a tale, if it’s a Hollywood one, and this one definitely is.

PostScript: I found on YouTube a clip of the scene in which Suzy first meets Andre. Her singing voice, I’m told, is not Jean Harlow’s, but Cary Grant’s? Yes, that’s definitely his. A highlight of the movie. Watch it!