Harlow Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Harlow Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 7, 2025

Gordon Douglas' "Harlow" (1965) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films. The supplemental features on the release include recent program with Caroll Baker and new program with author and film scholar Foster Hirsch. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Picture perfect

This is the film that effectively ended Carroll Baker’s career in Hollywood. However, while entirely deserved, its poor reception was just one of many reasons Baker fled to Italy, where she made various very interesting, now considered cult, films. The most consequential of these reasons was Baker’s complicated relationship with producer Joseph E. Levine, who, many believe, this writer included, ruined the film. Baker has shared some pretty curious details about the relationship, all of which point to the following development: even if the film had been received better, during its production, Baker had burned too many bridges while confronting Levine, and Levine had mistreated Baker too many times, making it impossible for the two to continue coexisting in Hollywood.

Directed by Gordon Douglas in 1965, the film is supposed to be an accurate reconstruction of the tragic story of Jean Harlow, as remembered by her agent, Arthur Landau, whose recollections were gathered in Irving Shulman’s novel Harlow: An Intimate Biography, published a year earlier. However, at best, the film is a wild (mis)interpretation of the various events that led to Harlow’s premature death at the age of 26. On top of this, its tone and style are quite similar, occasionally even identical, to those of Edward Dmytryk's scandalous melodrama The Carpetbaggers, also starring Baker and produced by Levine a year earlier.

Baker’s character is a young, stunningly beautiful blonde who enters The Dream Factory and soon after discovers that it is a nightmare circus corrupting everyone. After refusing to secure work while taking her clothes off and making love to powerful strangers, Baker, on the verge of giving up, reluctantly teams up with a veteran agent (Red Buttons) who carefully begins promoting her as a casual sex symbol. Several lucky breaks later, Baker lands a contract with Majestic Studios, and her career finally takes off. However, as America falls in love with her and she becomes financially independent, Baker realizes that success does not guarantee happiness, and her frustration quickly transforms her into a lonely, dangerously disillusioned addict.

The narrative is broken into multiple episodes, many of which are infused with cynicism of the kind that gives The Carpetbaggers its identity. However, the intensity of the melodrama is different. Also, even after Baker is transformed into a star and many women begin imitating her appearance, the film, despite being a big production, does not produce the same dazzling visual material. On the contrary, the wealth and excess that film stars are associated with are routinely and effectively subdued by modest visual material, where Baker is seen alone and miserable.

Once understood that Baker is not Harlow, the visit to The Dream Factory is difficult to categorize as misleading. In fact, everything that compromises the film, because Baker’s transformation is unconvincing, makes it look right. For example, in one of the ugliest sequences, Baker is used by her agent in a setup, and while he does it to advance her career, it is an acknowledgement that even the good guys must imitate the bad guys to make things happen in The Dream Factory. Elsewhere, it is also correctly acknowledged that the studios viewed and treated stars like Baker as temporary valuable objects, which they masterfully replaced once their appeal diminished.

The supporting cast is impressive. However, even iconic character actors like Raf Vallone, Martin Balsam, and Angela Lansbury fail to make a lasting impression. Baker dominates the entire film.

Harlow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Harlow arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films.

In America, Harlow made its high-definition debut with this release, produced by Olive Films in 2013. I have it in my library and think that it offers a very solid organic presentation of the film. This new release offers an equally pleasing presentation, and its back cover states that it was sourced from a 4K master. I did some comparisons between these releases, and on my system, some of the visuals they produced looked fairly similar. However, on the original release, I could see some nicks and blemishes popping up here and there, as well as several rather obvious density fluctuations. They are not present on this release. Also, while often modest, improvements in delineation and clarity make many visuals even more attractive. Color reproduction and balance are very, very similar, though I would say that certain areas of the previous presentation appear a tad warmer. There are no traces of any digital corrections. Image stability is excellent. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Harlow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless track is excellent. Clarity, sharpness, and stability are outstanding. The upper register does not reveal any weaknesses either. I would describe dynamic intensity as excellent, though it is pretty obvious that various segments of the film, like the stage rehearsals, were carefully done to impress. The music sounds wonderful. I did not encounter any anomalies to report in our review.

Harlow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Carroll Baker: Looking Back - in this recent program, Carroll Baker discusses her fascinating career in the film industry, the many great directors she worked with, and some of the films that transformed her life. Baker also shares an important lesson that Clark Gable, whom she loved, taught her while working together, and comments on her feud with producer Joseph E. Levine. The program was produced by Eckhart Schmidt and Robert Ficher for Raphaela Film and Fiction Factory in 2024. In English, not subtitled. (53 min).

• Foster Hirsch on Harlow - in this exclusive new program, author and film scholar Foster Hirsch discusses the production of Harlow, its disastrous reception, and Carroll Baker's career before and after it. In English, not subtitled. (14 min).

Harlow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Carroll Baker is not Jean Harlow. If you conclude that this is a good enough reason to declare Harlow a failure, you will find a lot of people who agree with you. However, the trip to The Dream Factory, where Baker becomes a huge star while surrounded by various shady characters who can make things happen, is difficult to categorize as misleading. The cynicism and ugliness that are part of this trip and eventually destroy Baker are reflective of a legitimate reality that many great films have exposed. For this reason, Harlow is still worth seeing. Despite not becoming Harlow, Baker is predictably wonderful, too. If you choose to see Harlow, bundle it with The Carpetbaggers, which I consider a minor masterpiece. Harlow is inlcuded in Film Focus: Carroll Baker, a three-disc box set. RECOMMENDED.