Film

Reckless

Name: Reckless
Genre: Music, Drama, Comedy
Released: 1935
Cast: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Ted Healy

Other titles called Reckless: the 1995 film, the 1997 series (ITV1), the 2014 series (CBS), the 2014 film.

Romance

A 1935 backstage comedy-drama in which chorus girl Mona Leslie climbs to stardom, then marries a dissolute millionaire in a marriage doomed by class, ambition and drink. It's a vehicle for Jean Harlow's vitality—she sings, she clowns, she carries the film on sheer force of personality. A period piece that lives in the tension between glamour and vulnerability.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like sharp-tongued 1930s romance where a wisecracking heroine and a dry, weary leading man circle each other while class and money get mocked rather than revered.

Skip it if you come for a full-blown musical, since the music is a side note and the tone lurches between brittle comedy and melodrama that can feel uneven.

What it asks of you: At about ninety-seven minutes, it keeps moving quickly, leaning on rapid-fire dialogue and a glossy, cynical sheen rather than slow emotional build-up.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gold Diggers of 19331933

The gold standard of Depression-era musical comedies. Busby Berkeley's dance numbers are kaleidoscopic spectacles, and the wit about money and marriage feels as sharp as Reckless itself. Harlow and this share a knowing comic energy.

But The plot is tissue-thin, and some of the jokes land harder in 1933 than they do now. The pacing can feel slack in the middle.

Dinner at Eight1933

A superb ensemble comedy-drama set over one evening where status, wealth and desire collide exactly as they do in Reckless. Wallace Beery and John Barrymore are magnificent, and the script crackles. This is what smart 1930s drama looks like.

But It's an ensemble, so no single character dominates. If you're coming for a star vehicle, this distributes focus differently.

Red Dust1932

Harlow and Clark Gable in the tropics, where class barriers crumble and desire wins. It has the same sexy, funny, slightly reckless energy as the film you're considering. Gable and Harlow are irresistible together.

But It's short on plot sophistication. The emotional arcs are broad, and some of the racial attitudes are uncomfortable.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Reckless

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pandora's Box1929

Both films centre on a woman whose sexual power and ambition propel her upward, only to discover that the world's rules are designed to bring her down. But where Reckless offers comedy and a degree of hope, Pandora's Box sees the same trajectory as tragedy.

Louise Brooks as Lulu, a chorus girl who destroys everyone who loves her through a combination of beauty, selfishness and fatal innocence. It's a silent film from Weimar Germany directed by G.W. Pabst, and it's infinitely darker and more tragic than Reckless. Brooks is extraordinary.

But It's silent, it's 90 years old, and the film print quality varies. More importantly, it's genuinely bleak—there is no happy ending here, and the despair is real. Not for a light evening.

The Women1939

An all-female ensemble comedy about marriage, rivalry and reinvention, with a script by Anita Loos (who wrote the Harlow vehicle Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell are superb. It captures the same world as Reckless from a different angle.

But It's nearly two hours and moves between comedy and soap opera so deftly that some viewers find it uneven. The fashion show sequence stops the plot cold.

It Happened One Night1934

A screwball romance that uses class difference as comedy fuel, with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable at their best. It's funny, fast and deeply romantic without ever being sentimental. The blueprint for everything Reckless is reaching for.

But The gender politics are very much of their era, and Gable's character can read as controlling to modern eyes. Some of the 'comedy' around hitchhiking and manipulation plays differently now.

Bombshell1933

Another Harlow vehicle about stardom and the pressure of being a public personality. She plays Jean Harlow (yes, herself, sort of), and the film is smart and funny about Hollywood's machinery. Lee Tracy is brilliant as her agent.

But It's deliberately meta and fragmented, which some find charming and others find scattered. The satire can be uneven.

42nd Street1933

A backstage musical with a plot about ambition, desperation and the show going on. Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell are earnest, but the ensemble work and Berkeley's direction are what matter. The closing number is genuinely astonishing.

But The ingénue and juvenile lead are sweetly incompetent compared to the supporting cast. If you want wit, you'll have to wait for the secondary characters.

The Front Page1931

A fast-talking newsroom comedy about ambition and love from the same era, with Pat O'Brien and Mary Brian. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it's sharper and tighter than you'd expect, and the dialogue snaps.

But It's very much a stage play, and the rhythm can feel stagy. The female character is underwritten compared to the men.

After Office Hours1935

Harlow opposite Clark Gable again, in a lighter romantic comedy about a newspaper editor and a society woman. It's zippy and warmly funny, with decent supporting work. A good example of Harlow doing what she does best.

But It's thinner on plot and character than the better 1930s comedies. The romance is the whole thing, and if that doesn't catch you, there's not much else to hold on to.

Foolish Wives1922

Both films use marriage and seduction as a way to explore class mobility and the idea that money and status are ultimately hollow. Where Reckless is American and optimistic, this is European and cynical about the same appetite.

Erich von Stroheim's epic about a fake count and countess seducing wealthy tourists on the Riviera. It's a vast, lustful, cynical comedy about class fraud and sexual manipulation set in high society. Silent, but ravishing and wickedly funny.

But It's nearly four hours in its restored form. The sexual content is frank for 1922, and some viewers find the moral universe bleak and unpleasant. The pacing is deliberately slow, which tests patience.

Funny Face1957

Both films are about transformation through beauty and performance, and both explore what a woman has to give up to climb. But where Reckless is cynical about marriage, Funny Face is a love story—the climb becomes bearable because Astaire adores Hepburn for her mind.

Audrey Hepburn as a bookish girl transformed into a fashion model by Fred Astaire. It's a Technicolor musical about ambition, glamour and the person you become when the world remakes you. Lighter in tone than Reckless, but asking similar questions about identity and desire.

But The gender politics are dated—Hepburn's character exists to be shaped by men. The fashion sequences go on a long time. If you don't love Fred Astaire or musicals generally, the dance numbers will test you.