Films
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{For the Boys Blogathon} November Movie of the Month: The Tall Men (1955)
This post is part of The Scarlett Olive’s For the Boys Blogathon. I am, obviously, a Clark Gable completist. I read anything and watch anything Clark related. Whenever I meet men in their 50’s or 60’s, their favorite Gable movies are not usually the 1930’s fluffy comedies or even Gone with the Wind. They always usually say ones that would be near the bottom of my list, such as Soldier of Fortune or Command Decision or this month’s movie of the month, The Tall Men. I am generally not a fan of Westerns, and this one is not the greatest ever made. However, it does have its endearing moments and it is…
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Gossip Friday: Always the Business Man
From June 1940: Clark Gable hasn’t enough to do–with his twenty-five costume changes in “Boom Town”–but has even gone in for technical advertising, as well! Gable was an oil field worker himself, way back when, so one day on the set he offered a few tips to the director and was promptly encouraged to give out more. “Not for nothing,” said Gable. “Okay, I’ll buy your lunch,” offered the director. “Lunch and a bottle of beer,” said Gable, always the business man.
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October Movie of the Month: Possessed (1931)
Joan Crawford is one of those actresses that people seem to either love or hate with no real in-between. Love her or hate her, she’s hard to escape if you’re a Gable fan, as not only is she his most frequent leading lady onscreen, she also was his romantic interest for many years off screen. You can read more about their affair here. Possessed isn’t the first film that Clark and Joan starred together in, but it is by far the steamiest. Having fallen head over heels in love (or maybe lust) by this time, their chemistry seeps onto the screen and is undeniable. Both were married at the time…
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September Movie of the Month: Men in White (1934)
Men in White is a complicated film to review. It is hard to view the film as it is, without thinking of what it could have been. This film was one of the surefire victims of the Legion of Decency. (Spoilers ahead) Gable, mustache-less, baby-faced and wearing far too much pancake makeup, is George Ferguson, a young doctor working hard to prove himself at a New York hospital. He puts medicine and his patients before all else, much to the chagrin of his heiress fiancé, Laura (Myrna Loy). He soon learns that all work and no play lead him open to temptation and he falls for Barbara (Elizabeth Allan), a nurse. Soon…
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August Movie of the Month: Homecoming (1948)
For August, I had a different film in mind but I decided to highlight Homecoming after a chat with my dear friend Debbie. Homecoming is truly one of those films that is easy to dismiss at first glance, but it really is a little-known gem. Clark’s 1940’s post-World War II films are truly hit or miss and in most you can see his heart isn’t in it. He was different; the carefree man of Boom Town and Honky Tonk was no more. In just a few short years, he had seemed to age ten; his voice had even deepened and developed a more gravely texture that would remain. I…
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Cameo Clark
Unfortuantely for us Gable fans, Clark wasn’t comfortable with the television medium and so clips of him on the small screen are scarce–no little cameos or guest spots like many of his contemporaries. But, in 1951, he did make a brief cameo appearance in the film Callaway Went Thataway, starring Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Maguire and Howard Keel. From what I gather, he was on the lot waiting around, Fred MacMurray was a long-time friend of his, so he said why not and did the scene in one take. It’s a cute little comedy. Fred and Dorothy play advertising execs who are in a bind when an old cowboy star named…
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{Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier Appreciation Blogathon} Spotlight on: Vivien Leigh
As is Gone with the Wind folklore, producer David Selznick’s search for the perfect Scarlett O’Hara reached far and wide, cost thousands of dollars and took years. Every female star auditioned for the part, regardless of how qualified she was. People on the street debated on who should play her. Southern debutantes took acting lessons and bought train tickets to Hollywood. It caused a nationwide frenzy. Then appeared the dark horse: British Vivien Leigh–whose casting surprised some, and rattled others. Civil War descendants decried her casting in letters to newspapers, stating, “The selection of Vivien Leigh is a direct affront to the men who wore gray and an outrage to the memory of…
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July Movie of the Month: It Happened One Night (1934)
I began “Movie of the Month” last July after the site’s first anniversary. I try to bounce around Clark’s filmography as I figured it would be rather dull to start from the beginning and end at his death. The films featured so far: June: But Not For Me May: Idiot’s Delight April: Band of Angels March: Saratoga February: China Seas January: Hold Your Man December: Red Dust November: The Secret Six October: No Man of Her Own September: Teacher’s Pet August: Never Let Me Go July: Wife vs. Secretary So, I thought it was fitting to celebrate two years of the site and one year of “Movie of the Months”…
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Gossip Friday: Comrade X Currency
From November 1940: In “Comrade X”, Hedy Lamarr plays a street conductor in Russia. Clark Gable gets on her car and gives her some “rubles” for his carfare. We just happened to be looking at the “rubles”–and they turned out to be Marie Antoinette coins, last used in [the 1937 Norma Shearer picture] “Marie Antoinette”. _____ Interesting piece of film trivia there! New this week: Photos in the gallery Four new articles, all from the 1940’s
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Gossip Friday: Scarlett Also-Rans
From March 1940: Talk of Hollywood, recently, is how much luck the girls who did NOT get the Scarlett O’Hara role in Gone with the Wind had! Of course, Vivien Leigh was the “lucky” one who got the part. But look at the others– Bette Davis did Jezebel instead and won an Academy Oscar; Norma Shearer, in The Women, did such a swell job that she may get the next Award; Tallulah Bankhead, when she flopparooed on Scarlett, did the stage play that’s getting her international raves…ditto Katharine Hepburn, who also did NOT get the O’Hara plum, but who scored hugely behind the footlights in Philadelphia Story. And Susan Hayward,…