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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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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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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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June Movie of the Month: But Not For Me (1959)
This month’s film is a little-viewed gem that I love recommending to Gable fans. It’s unfortunately not on DVD and TCM does not own it so it gets zero television airplay. Which is a shame because it is a really entertaining film. Gable is Russ Ward, an aging Broadway producer deep in debt and losing his touch. When he finally decides to throw in the towel, his much younger secretary, Ellie Brown (Carroll Baker), admits to being in love with him. Her speech to him gives him the idea for a great play and he sets to work on it, reviving his career, leading Ellie on in the process. She…
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April Movie of the Month: Band of Angels (1957)
Clark Gable plays a rich, witty, romantic, dashing Civil War-era rogue who sweeps a beautiful brunette off her feet with his charms. Gone with the Wind? Nope, not even close, it’s Band of Angels. Gone with the Wind was still quite popular and had recently been re-released, so producers were anxious to capitalize on it’s popularity. Clark had suffered quite a few flops in the 1950’s and was probably not too keen on accepting a Rhett Butler-type role, but saw their point that it could be a success. It wasn’t. Yvonne De Carlo is Amantha Starr, a Kentucky belle who has lived a life of privilege on her father’s plantation. While…
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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…
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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…
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Movie of the Month: No Man of Her Own
No surprise, since we’re having Carole Lombard month, that this month’s movie is the only Clark and Carole film, No Man of Her Own, from 1932. Thanks to the legendary romance of Clark and Carole that would begin about four years later, this film has now become a fan favorite, whereas maybe if Clark’s co-star hadn’t been Carole it would be dismissed as another soapy melodrama. But actually there is some substance in it, and even overlooking the Clark and Carole legend, it’s a good little pre-code. Clark is Babe Stewart, a womanizing card cheat. As he says to a pining Dorothy Mackaill early on, “You know I’m a hit…
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Movie of the Month: Teacher’s Pet
************************ Note: The gallery is currently not working. I am hard at work on it and I hope it will be back up soon! Sorry for the inconvienence! ************************* School’s back in, so what better time to select Teacher’s Pet as the Movie of the Month! Teacher’s Pet, made in 1958, was one of the best of Clark’s final years on screen. Unlike some of his previous films, he seems at ease, at peace and, dare we say it, actually having fun with is role (should we thank Kay Gable for all of that? I think so..) Clark is Jim Gannon, a hard-nosed editor of a New York newspaper. When he receives…
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Movie of the Month: Never Let Me Go
This month, we’re skipping ahead to 1953… Never Let Me Go pairs aging Gable with one of the top stars of the late 1940’s/early 1950’s, Gene Tierney. A simple, rather old-hat storyline: Gable is an American newsman stationed in Russia. He pursues and falls in love with Marya (Tierney), a Russian ballerina. American/Russian relations being what they were in those days, their marriage is frowned upon. Even more frowned upon? Gable’s idea of taking Marya home to the U.S. Efforts to get her passport are stalled and then altogether stopped. Gable is tricked into getting on a plane without her and is refused admission back into Russia. Back in the States, he…