Films
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Movies of the Week: Chained (1934), Forsaking All Others (1934) and Love on the Run (1936)
This week, since it’s Valentine’s Day week, we’re lovin’ it up around here with a triple dose of 1930’s Clark Gable and Joan Crawford: Chained (1934), Forsaking All Others (1934) and Love on the Run (1936). I like all three of these films; they all fit the bill for typical 1930’s rom-coms. Chained (1934) The Love Story: Gable is Mike Bradley, a South American rancher who falls for the glamorous Diana (Crawford) on a cruise ship. Diana falls for Mike too, despite the fact that she is romantically involved with a married Manhattan businessman, Richard (Otto Kruger), whose wife refuses to leave him. She decides to leave Richard for Mike…
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Movie of the Week: Comrade X (1940)
This week, Clark Gable is a foreign correspondent in Russia trying to drag an unwilling Hedy Lamarr back to America with him in Comrade X (1940). Gable is McKinley Thompson, an American reporter living in Russia who is secretly sending news out of the country as the elusive “Comrade X”. His bumbling valet, Igor (Felix Bressart) discovers who he is and blackmails him to take his headstrong Communist daughter (Lamarr) out of Russia to protect her from prosecution. Everything doesn’t go as planned and soon the three of them are racing out of Russia with the Russian army on their tails. This film isn’t some magnificent piece of movie artistry;…
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Movies of the Week: The Painted Desert (1931), The Easiest Way (1931) and The Finger Points (1931)
This week, since it’s Clark Gable’s birthday this week, we’re highlighting his first speaking role and two of his early roles: The Painted Desert, The Easiest Way and The Finger Points, all from 1931. The Painted Desert, Clark’s first speaking role, is not very memorable. Western partners Jeff (MacDonald) and Cash (Farnum) find a baby boy in an otherwise deserted emigrants camp, and clash over which is to be “father”. They are still bitterly feuding years later when they own adjacent ranches. Bill, the foundling whom Cash has raised to young manhood, wants to end the feud and extends an olive branch toward Jeff, who now has a lovely daughter.…
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Movie of the Week: Cain and Mabel (1936)
This week, Clark is a mechanic-turned boxer who hates-loves-then-hates-again Marion Davies’ waitress-turned Broadway star in Cain and Mabel (1936). Clark Gable is Larry Cain, a heavyweight boxer, whose publicity team cooks up a fake romance with Mabel O’Dare (Davies), an aspiring musical star, for publicity. .Clark wins the heavyweight title but his fights aren’t popular enough to earn much of a profit. Marion gets a starring role on Broadway but her shows are hardly sell-outs. “The ushers are quitting because they’re scared of being alone in the dark!” her employer scoffs.So his support team and her support team decide that if they throw them together in a romance, the…
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Movie of the Week: Command Decision (1948)
This week, Clark Gable is an American General stationed in England during World War II, commanding bombing missions over Germany in Command Decision (1948). Okay, so here’s the thing about this whole Movie of the Week premise. It’s great for me to re-watch all of Clark’s films and revisit a lot of these pictures that are otherwise buried in my computer, and it gives some structure to my Facebook and Instagram posts as well. As you can probably tell, they are not in any particular order; I figured chronological would be boring–it’s much more interesting to bounce around his filmography. Some weeks are certainly better than others; some movies have…
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Movie of the Week: Possessed (1931)
This week, wealthy Clark Gable’s in love with Joan Crawford’s wrong-side-of-the-tracks factory worker in Possessed (1931). Crawford is Marion Martin, a disillusioned small town factory worker looking for something better. After a chance meeting with Wallace Stewart (Skeets Gallagher), a drunk Park Avenue man on a train, she heads to New York to fulfill her dreams. He advises her to meet a rich man or she’ll never get along in the city. She takes his advice to heart and when two of Stewart’s friends show up, she squeezes her way into meeting them. Gable appears about fifteen minutes in the film as Mark Whitney, a distinguished attorney. He takes a…
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Movie of the Week: San Francisco (1936)
This week, ruthless nightclub owner Clark Gable chases after virtuous opera singer Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco. Clark is Blackie Norton, a ruthless saloon-keeper in 1906 San Francisco. Despite their differences, he falls in love with Mary Blake (MacDonald), a small town minister’s daughter and aspiring opera singer whom he hires to sing in his revue. His childhood pal, priest Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy), objects to him putting Mary on display and stopping her from her opera aspirations. Realizing that Tim is right and that she should pursue her dreams instead of letting Blackie hold her back, Mary leaves him and becomes a successful opera star. It isn’t until the…
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Movie of the Week: Homecoming (1948)
This week, Clark Gable is an accomplished surgeon returning home from World War II, Lana Turner is his nurse love interest and Anne Baxter is his fretful wife in Homecoming (1948). Gable is Dr. Ulysses “Lee” Johnson, a successful surgeon with a loving and caring wife, Penny (Baxter). When he volunteers for the Army and heads overseas to fight in World War II, he meets a snappy nurse, Jane “Snapshot” McCall (Turner). At first his stuffy, conservative ways and her free-thinking style clash, but soon they are working well together in crisis and become friends. Penny becomes suspicious of their relationship when Lee mentions her frequently in his letters home.…
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Movie of the Week: Test Pilot (1938)
This week, it’s Clark Gable as a fearless test pilot, Myrna Loy as the woman he loves and Spencer Tracy as his best buddy in Test Pilot (1938). Clark is Jim Lane, a boozing, womanizing army test pilot who walks to the beat of his own drummer. On one trip, his plane starts leaking gas and he lands on the field of a Kansas farm, where Ann Barton (Loy) lives with her parents. Their sparring turns to mutual attraction soon after and by the time Jim’s best friend and mechanic, Gunner Morris (Tracy) arrives to help fix the plane, they are in love. When Jim brings the plane home to…
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Movie of the Week: Strange Interlude (1932)
This week, everyone, including Clark Gable, is in love with Norma Shearer and sharing their thoughts about it in Strange Interlude (1932). Clark Gable is Dr. Ned Darrell, who has fallen in love with Nina Leeds (Shearer), a free-spirited young woman who is mourning the loss of her love in World War I. Also in love with her are family friend Charlie (Ralph Morgan) and Sam (Alexander Kirkland), a friend of her deceased boyfriend. Sam proposes to Nina and even though she is still heartbroken, she accepts and decides to move on with her life. Right after their marriage, Sam’s mother (May Robson) tells Nina that she and Sam must…
