Movies & Television: Drama › Item #126927303

In the 1930s, nobody combined glamour, romantic comedy, and
drama better than Carole Lombard. Having entered show-biz at the
age of 12, the former Jane Alice Peters (b. Oct. 6, 1908, in Fort
Wayne, Indiana) distinguished herself from equally stellar
contemporaries like Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, and Jean
Arthur by establishing her versatility as a fashion icon whose
beauty was matched by playful intelligence and a bright,
independent persona (on screen and off) that predated feminism by
40 years and made her an appealing foil for admiring male costars.
As this delightful half-dozen of her lesser-known features makes
abundantly clear, her meteoric success was entirely well-deserved,
and The Glamour Collection shows her as a star on the rise, gaining
confidence and adoring fans with each new picture. As one of
Paramount's most valued contract players, she starred in five of
the six films included here (Love Before Breakfast was a loan-out
to Universal), beginning with 1931's Man of the World, a Parisian
romance written by Herman J. Mankiewicz (10 years before Citizen
Kane) and headlined by future Thin Man star William Powell as an
expatriate con artist who falls for Lombard's spoiled heiress--a
romantic pairing made all the more believable by the stars'
real-life marriage later that year.A loose adaptation of The
Admirable Crichton, We're Not Dressing (1934) is Depression-era
entertainment at its most diverting, employing a full stable of
Paramount players (including George Burns and Gracie Allen, Ethel
Merman, and a young Raymond Milland) in a shipwreck romance between
socialite Lombard and singing sailor Bing Crosby, who croons songs
aplenty (including Stormy Weather) and shares equal screen-time
with an affectionate bear! Directed by Norman Taurog (best known
for his later work with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis
Presley), it's every bit as fun as the Marx Brothers hits from the
same period. Arguably the best film in this set, Hands Across the
Table is noteworthy for the typically stylish direction of Mitchell
Leisen, who brings his reliable sophistication to the tale of a New
York manicurist (Lombard) who must choose between potential suitors
Fred McMurray (as a would-be heir to a fortune) and disabled
ex-pilot Ralph Bellamy. (This being 1934, Norman Krasna's otherwise
excellent script restricts Bellamy to the romantic sidelines with
outdated feel-good sentiment.) Love Before Breakfast (1936) is a
similarly enjoyable but typically chauvinistic dose of '30s
high-society love-play, in which Lombard bounces between boyfriend
Cesar Romero and a Wall Street tycoon (Preston Foster) who knows
what's best for her and bosses her around accordingly. In the
mystery/comedy The Princess Comes Across (1936), McMurray returns
as a lovestruck bandleader, falling for Lombard's radiant Swedish
princess (played as a playful nod to Greta Garbo) on a cruiser
bound for Hollywood. After completing the classic Nothing Sacred,
Lombard (who married Clark Gable in 1939) teamed with McMurray yet
again in True Confession (1937), a black screwball thriller/comedy
elevated by the presence of comedy stalwarts John Barrymore, Edgar
Kennedy and Una Merkel. It rounds out The Glamour Collection in
fine form (Lucille Ball is said to have modeled her TV persona
after Lombard's character), and leads the way to such later
classics as Made for Each Other (1939) and To Be or Not to Be
(1942). Tragically, Lombard's outstanding career was cut short when
she perished (along with her mother and 20 other passengers) in a
1942 plane crash. Fortunately for DVD collectors, these six films
(all remarkably well-preserved with clear image and sound) serve as
a fitting tribute to Lombard's unique talent, allowing movie lovers
of all ages to rediscover one of the most alluring queens of the
silver screen. --Jeff Shannon A queen of the silver screen
Hollywood star Carole Lombard carved a place for herself in film
history with her roles in the six films gathered here: MAN OF THE
WORLD WE'RE NOT DRESS