Films

  • Films,  Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

    May Movie of the Month: Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (1931)

    It took me two months to do the Nutshell Reviews for all 66 of Clark’s credited roles. Now that that is over, it’s back to Movie of the Month! This month, Clark Gable is paired with the Grande Dame of the screen in this scandalous pre-production code romance, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise.  Garbo is Susan (born Helga), an illegitimate orphan raised in shame by her aunt and her cruel husband, who treats her like a slave. He picks a man for her to marry “so you won’t be without a wedding ring like your mother”. When the man tries to rape her, she runs away in a rainstorm,…

  • After Office Hours,  Hell Divers,  News,  Parnell,  Test Pilot

    Four Gable Films Just Released on DVD!

    I love Warner Brothers Archive Collection! Thanks to them, the majority of Clark’s films are available to us fans for our home viewing pleasure. And FINALLY they have just released a few of the missing titles: After Office Hours (1935) with Constance Bennett! Buy it here. Hell Divers (1931) with Wallace Beery! Buy it here. Parnell (1937) with Myrna Loy! Buy it here. and Test Pilot, which I have been anxiously awaiting the release of for years! Buy it here.

  • Films,  Gone with the Wednesday,  Gone with the Wind,  Gossip

    Gone with the Wednesday: Honor Page

    Screenplay Magazine Honor Page, from December 1939: “Gone with the Wind” is the great picture of its time, as “Birth of a Nation” was great in its day. It runs for 3 hours and 45 minutes, It has an all-star cast and thousands of extras. It is all in brilliant Technicolor, with some scenes of breathtaking beauty, It’s always stirring and often thrilling. But you can’t describe this Selznick epic. You must see it in order to believe it. Three-star pictures are rare. In “Gone with the Wind” three performances are such absolute perfection in portrayal that all three must be given our award. Vivien Leigh reincarnates Margaret Mitchell’s headstrong…

  • Films,  Gone with the Wednesday,  Gone with the Wind

    Gone with the Wednesday: Snag Yourself a Scarlett Sweater

    Gone with the Wind did not suffer from lack of marketing. Products sporting the film’s name were pushed upon the public long before the film was released; everything from clothing to perfume to candies to jewelry. In 1938, even before the film was cast, you could buy yourself a “Scarlett O’Hara sweater” that is “inspired” by the film: Or you could “Play the lead in Gone with the Wind” in this dress: As the film was in production and released, the marketing hit a fever pitch and you could get your hands on Gone with the Wind jewelry: Or you could win it in a magazine contest! In case you’re…

  • Films,  Gone with the Wednesday,  Gone with the Wind

    Gone with the Wednesday: Facts for Your Own Gone with the Wind Trivia Game

    In 1940, Photoplay magazine supplied its readers with facts on Gone with the Wind so that they could play their own GWTW trivia game… Hollywood can talk of nothing these days but Gone with the Wind. It’s crept into every luncheon and dinner party until hostesses, in despair, have invented a Gone with the Wind game. Pencils and papers with questions to be answered concerning the mighty epic are passed around at every gathering. The one winning the highest score gets the prize. Why not try it at your parties, too? With [us] supplying all the answers to facts and figures, you can make up your own questions. Here goes:…

  • Films,  Gone with the Wednesday,  Gone with the Wind

    Gone with the Wednesday: “Gone with the Wind Indeed!”

    This week, featured is another article from the archive, Gone with the Wind Indeed!, Photoplay magazine, March 1937. This article is all about the pressing issue of casting the great civil war epic: Time was when you could call a man a rat in Hollywood and get yourself a stiff poke in the nose. But now what you get is–”Rhett? Rhett Butler? Well–I don’t know about that ‘profile like an old coin’ stuff, but I’ve been told I am rather masterful and–” Yes and there was a day when you could call a woman scarlet in this town and find yourself looking into the business end of a male relative’s…

  • Films,  Nutshell Reviews,  The Misfits

    In a Nutshell: The Misfits (1961)

    In a Nutshell: The Misfits (1961) Directed by: John Huston Co-stars: Marilyn Monroe, Eli Wallach, Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter Synopsis: The last film of two icons of the screen, The Misfits is a poetic end to the careers of both Gable and Monroe. Gable is Gay Langland, an aging cowboy in Reno who avoids responsibility and anything tying him down. He and his buddy Guido (Wallach) run into Roslyn (Monroe), a depressed ex-dancer who is in Reno getting a divorce. She’s been staying with Isabelle (Ritter) to establish her residency requirement for the divorce. They all have nowhere to be and no one to answer to, so they decide to head…