Films
-
Movie of the Month: Saratoga (1937)
As we wind up our parade of Gable and Harlow pairings, it is only natural that the last one is their last film together and, sadly, Harlow’s last film period. Gable is Duke Bradley, a bookie who acquires the deed to the Brookdale horse ranch because the owner, Mr. Clayton (Jonathan Hale) owes him a lot of money. When the Clayton dies, his daughter Carol (Harlow), who dislikes Bradley, is determined to get the horse ranch back in the family by winning horse races to pay Bradley back. Meanwhile, Bradley tries to bait Carol’s rich fiancée (Pidgeon) to place bets with him. Jean, looking bloated and tired, was struggling…
-
Gossip Friday: Rhett and…his Scarlett?
From September 1938: With the announcement of Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Norma Shearer as Scarlett in “Gone with the Wind”, Clark and Norma, far from happy, are wearing two worried frowns on their personable faces. Gable is anxious to know these things: “Will I be the Rhett Butler of the fans’ dreams? If please the North, will the South be happy over the choice? Will I interpret each scene, each move, as the millions of readers have pictured it in their minds and hearts? Will I fail in this, my heaviest assignment to date? Frankly, I don’t see how any actor can win with this role and I’m…
-
Movie of the Month: China Seas (1935)
China Seas is a real MGM high octane thriller, set on the high seas, with… Romance! Pirates! Deception! A torrid love triangle! Gable is Alan Gaskell, a roguish captain of a ship that sails between Hong Kong and Shanghai. It’s established pretty early on that he’s been having some adult fun ashore with a Shanghai harlot, Dolly, who goes by the name China Doll (Harlow). So imagine his surprise when setting his ship off to sea that she is on board as a passenger! She confesses she is madly in love with him; he is weary of her and rejects her advances. She is green with jealousy upon the arrival onboard…
-
Gossip Friday: On the set of Comrade X
From January 1941: Hedy Lamarr, who has completely forgotten her nervous jitters and family troubles that tore at her heart, has become a fun-loving, chattering, prank-playing imp on the “Comrade X” set. And all because that irresistable Clark Gable has kidded Hedy out of those self-conscious blues into being a real and naturla human being. It’s a new Lamarr, take our word for it. _____ New this week: Tuesday: New look for the site, film page for The Painted Desert Wednesday: Page for Grace Kelly Thursday: Pics of Clark and Sylvia Ashley in the gallery Friday: Clark’s death certificate
-
Gossip Friday: Snippets from the set of Gone with the Wind
From August 1939: There’s a mad scramble between every scene on the “Gone with the Wind” set. For Vivien Leigh is an Anagram fiend and Olivia de Havilland is equally rabid on the subject of Chinese Checkers–and they like Clark Gable for a partner. Gable happens to like both girls and both games, but he’s hit upon a practical solution for the predicament. It’s three-handed bridge and now everyone is happy. *** Though Vivien Leigh has many elaborate costumes for “Gone with the Wind”, her costliest is the ugliest dress she wears in the picture. Fourteen copies of this dress had to be made, for it is the one which…
-
Movie of the Month: Hold Your Man (1933)
Probably the least-known of Clark and Jean Harlow’s pairings, Hold Your Man is a scandulous pre-code with a pretty good melodrama in its center. Gable is Eddie Hall, a small-time con man on the run from the cops when he bursts into Ruby Adams’ (Jean Harlow) apartment and finds her in the bathtub. Ruby and Eddie quickly realize they are two peas in a pod: she is somewhat of a con artist herself, seducing and manipulating men to get what she wants. This is definitely pre-production code stuff, as the film offers no innuendo to cover up the fact that Eddie and Ruby are sleeping together. One of Eddie’s cons…
-
Movie of the Month (December): Red Dust
Yes, I am a very bad webmistress and didn’t post this in December. Holidays and all that…But I will make it up to you and post it now and post January’s Movie of the Month next week. Two Jean and Clark movies in one month ain’t a bad month! A Free Soul (1931) is usually described as being Clark’s breakout performance. I’ll agree with that. But if A Free Soul made people notice him, Red Dust truly thrust him into super stardom. He is at his swoon-worthy best here: always sweaty and dirty-looking, hair flopped aross his face, shirt haphazardy open, caught between two lovely ladies. Clark is Dennis Carson,…
-
Gone with the Wind hits Los Angeles
The Los Angeles premiere of Gone with the Wind was 71 years ago this very evening. Jean Garceau, Clark and Carole’s faithful secretary, attended the event with them. Here is how she described it: The theater was decorated inside and out in keeping with the background and theme of the film. Huge searchlights probed the sky, bands played, streets were roped off and uniformed attendants held back the crowds as the police permitted only those cars with passes to draw up in front of the theater. A long flower-decked canopy extended to the sidewalk and a master of ceremonies stood there to welcome the stars, announce their names over a…
-
Movie of the Month: The Secret Six (1931)
The centennial of Jean Harlow’s birth is coming up in March 2011. To celebrate, the next five movies featured will be all of Clark’s movies with the legendary Miss Harlow. (But wait! You are saying–they starred in six movies together! True, but we’ve already featured Wife vs. Secretary as Movie of the Month in July) So to start with, here’s the very first of their pairings… The Secret Six, from 1931 Clark, not yet a star, was still playing second fiddle. Billed seventh, he is lagging behind Wallace Beery, Johnny Mack Brown and Lewis Stone for screen time. Not for long, as just a few months after the release of The…
-
Gossip Friday: Wandering into Grand Hotel
Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford filming Grand Hotel From April 1932: In “Strange Interlude” Clark Gable will play a variety of roles that will carry him from youth to old age, and as a consequence he is devoting all of his time to praticing makeups at the Metro studio. He walked on the set of “Grand Hotel” (where he didn’t belong) the other day and “accidentally on purpose” got in everybody’s way without being recognized. Finally the assistant director ordered him out of the studio. Crestfallen Clark started away just as Jean Hersholt, a member of the “Grand Hotel” cast, happened along. “What’s the matter, old man?” Hersholt asked kindly.…