Films
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{May Movie of the Month} Adventure (1945)
“Gable’s Back and Garson’s Got Him!” You couldn’t tread many places without hearing MGM’s infectious tagline for Adventure. The return of Clark Gable after a three year absence from the screen was heralded high and low. Clark, now a decorated war hero and a widower, was a bit thicker around the middle, a bit grayer around the temples, a bit sadder in the eyes…but was back in the saddle. While Clark had been overseas, British import Greer Garson had become the #1 leading lady at MGM, after such hits as Mrs. Miniver and Random Harvest. In the beginning this film has a lot in common with Teacher’s Pet, which would…
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April Movie of the Month: Laughing Sinners (1931)
Clark Gable is third billed in this syrupy drama behind Joan Crawford, naturally, and Neil Hamilton (who?) Unlike most of this roles of 1931–A Free Soul, Dance Fools Dance, Night Nurse–Clark is far from a thug; he plays the ultimate good boy out to save Joan Crawford’s soul. Clark is Carl, a saintly Salvation Army officer who rescues Ivy (Crawford), distraught over being dumped by her boyfriend (Hamilton), from jumping off a bridge. Under Carl’s influence, Ivy gives up her hard-drinking, hard-partying nightclub lifestyle and joins the Salvation Army. Temptation proves to be too great though, when her ex-lover returns and she falls back into old habits. If you are…
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March Movie of the Month: Strange Interlude (1932)
“In order for us to fully understand his characters, Eugene O’Neill allows them to express their thoughts aloud. As in life, these thoughts are quite different from the words that pass their lips.” Such is the–I’ll call it a warning–at the beginning of Strange Interlude, a pre-code film that is indeed…strange. As a classic film lover, particularly of the 1930’s, I cringe when people refer to some classic films as “creaky.” But unfortunately that is the word I feel I must use to describe Strange Interlude–a film that has not aged well, a film that I would definitely not recommend to those new to classic film and wary of its…
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{New Article} 1957: She Calls Him “Pappy” But She Calls Him “Darling”
This article from 1957 focuses on a Clark Gable film that’s not often mentioned, The King and Four Queens. The main reason that it is not often mentioned is that it is quite bad. It was Clark’s first and only attempt at producing and it was a flop, therefore he retreated back into his happy rabbit hole of acting only. Kay accompanied Clark to Utah for the location shoot of the film. “Well,” the slim, blonde, suntanned woman asked Barbara Nichols, “what do you think of my old man?” “Do you really want me to tell you?” asked Barbara. The woman before her stiffened. Her blue eyes frosted over. “Why,…
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A Photographer’s View on Gone with the Wind and Carole Lombard
In 1940, Fred Parrish, a well-known Hollywood photographer, mused on some of his favorite moments. Gone with the Wind For a scene of the evacuation of Atlanta in GWTW, a horse-drawn ammuniton wagon was to come down the street and explode just as the horse passed [a lamp post]. I picked the safe side of the street, but when the bomb in the wagon went off, the horse went the wrong way so fast he made Seabiscuit look sick. If it had not been for the iron safety bowl used in the wagon, I would have been blown right off the lot! I’ll bet the hardest work [Clark Gable] ever…
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{Rumor Mill} Clark Gable, George Cukor and Gone with the Wind
It’s no secret that Clark Gable didn’t want to be in Gone with the Wind. Despite the public’s insistence that he was the only one who could play Rhett, he had no desire to step into the shoes of the rebellious blockade runner. “The reason I didn’t want to do Gone with the Wind–here is a novel that is the top seller of all time. Now, people form opinions about characters–they formed an opinion that I was going to play it. They already had a preconcieved idea of what they were going to see. That’s why I didn’t want to play, I said too many people know this character. My God, with…
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{New Article} 1933: Behind the Scenes with Jean and Clark
I was ecstatic to find this article because I love Clark Gable and Jean Harlow together, on screen and off, and Hold Your Man is my favorite film of theirs. So what could be better than a behind the scenes piece, written by Anita Loos herself, the author of Hold Your Man? One morning Jean was late in making her appearance on the stage. I happened to be there and Clark was plainly concerned. “I am worried for fear Jean’s sick,” he said. “She’s never late unless something’s wrong. Do you know,” he continued, “I can’t understand how that tiny kid stands up under such strenuous work. She only weighs…
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February Movie of the Month: The Hucksters (1947)
Voted on by you Gable fans…The Hucksters is the Movie of the Month for February! And the winner of The Hucksters on DVD is Debbie Moore, who voted via Facebook! The Hucksters is my personal favorite of Clark’s films after he returned from the war. The script is good and with a cast that includes Deborak Kerr, Ava Gardner, Sydney Greenstreet and Adolphe Menjou, Clark is surrounded by talent. It was the first script offered to him after the war that he actually liked. The film is considered a drama, but it has some comedic moments and is really more of a satire, ridiculing the advertising industry. Clark’s character, Victor “Vic” Norman…
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{January Movie of the Month} Key to the City (1950)
Key to the City is only notable really for the re-teaming of Clark Gable with Loretta Young, his co-star in Call of the Wild fifteen years earlier…oh, and the mother of his daughter, Judy. Loretta was suggested as his leading lady because the studio was trying to bring back some of Clark’s romantic luster as the grim Any Number Can Play and female-less Command Decision has darkened it. Gable is Steve Fisk, the boorish mayor of Puget City, who meets Clarissa Standish (Young), the stuffy mayor of Winona, Maine at the annual mayors conference in San Francisco. They fall in love despite their differences but trouble arises as they try…
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December Movie of the Month: Too Hot to Handle (1938)
Following on the heels of the very successful Test Pilot, Clark and Myrna Loy were teamed again in 1938 for another romantic adventure drama. This film is an interesting look behind the scenes at the now-extinct-thanks-to-television newsreel business. Gable is Chris Hunter, a newsreel cameraman who is always where the action is. Walter Pidgeon is Bill Dennis, a rival newsreel cameraman who is constantly trying to out-scoop Chris. Both of them are bored in Shanghai since they can’t get anywhere near the action of the Chinese-Japanese war. His boss (Walter Connolly) demanding action shots of the war, Chris starts making up fake shots using toy airplanes and sending them in.…