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Nutshell Reviews: Cain and Mabel (1936), Love on the Run (1936) and Parnell (1937)
In a Nutshell: Cain and Mabel (1936) Directed by: Lloyd Bacon Co-stars: Marion Davies Synopsis: Gable is Larry Cain, a small time boxer, whose publicity team cooks up a fake romance with Mabel O’Dare (Davies), an aspiring musical star, for publicity. The two loathe each other but begrudgingly agree to play along to help both of their careers. Of course along the way they actually do fall in love and decide to quit boxing and show business to be together. Their publicists won’t hear of it however and set to break them up. Best Gable Quote: “I’m supposed to be a fighter and what am I doing–playing post office all…
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Nutshell Reviews: Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and San Francisco (1936)
In a Nutshell: Wife vs. Secretary (1936) Directed by: Clarence Brown Co-stars: Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, James Stewart Synopsis: Gable is Van, “Jake”, or “V.S.” Stanhope, a publishing executive happily married to the elegant Linda (Loy). Tongues start wagging about Van and his beautiful secretary, Helen “Whitey” Wilson (Harlow), whom he considers a close friend and confidante, but nothing more. While trying to secretly buy rights to a magazine from a rival publisher, he sneaks around town with Whitey, finalizing the deal. As his stories become inconsistent, Linda begins to suspect him and Whitey are having an affair. So does Whitey’s patient fiancé, Dave (a youthful Stewart). Dave grows irritated…
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Nutshell Reviews: Men in White (1934) and Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
In a Nutshell: Men in White (1934) Directed by: Richard Boleslawski Co-stars: Myrna Loy, Elizabeth Allan, Otto Kruger Synopsis: Gable 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 (Loy). He soon learns that all work and no play lead him open to temptation and he falls for Barbara (Allan), a nurse, with devastating consequences. Best Gable Quote: “What good’s a profession that can’t give you bread and butter after you’ve wasted ten years of your life at it?” Fun Fact: On the set of…
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September Movie of the Month: Night Flight (1933)
Okay, okay, I know it’s the end of the month and here I am just now declaring the Movie of the Month for September. In my defense, I just moved and my office has turned out to be the last room to get unpacked. I always rewatch the Movie of the Month and reread the passages about it in some of the books I have. So I had to wait until I found my DVDs and books! I actually had another film in mind for this month but I can’t find the DVD at the moment, so Night Flight it is. Night Flight is a true ensemble piece, boosting an impressive…
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Gossip Friday: Clark Gable–Forgotten Man
From April 1939: …take the [Clark] Gable burial and its ramifications. This was in Too Hot to Handle. The scene had been shot a half a dozen times, but still it wasn’t right, in the opinion of Director Jack Conway. “We’ll shoot it again,” he decreed. Clark looked pained. “Hey, what is this?” he protested. “I suppose you think I LIKE being buried alive!” Myrna Loy, cool and comfortable in her easy chair, soothed him from the sidelines. “It’s for the sake of your art,” she said. At six o’clock, they were still at it and still Conway wasn’t satisfied. Clark was dirty, dishevelled, cranky. Walter Pidgeon remonstrated with him.…
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Gossip Friday: Happy Birthday, Myrna Loy! From Kingfish
Today marks the 108th birthday of one of Clark Gable’s dear friends and frequent co-stars, Myrna Loy. Their friendship was sweet and yes, platonic. At their first meeting at a party in 1933, they danced to “Dancing in the Dark.” She said later in her life that every time she heard that song she thought of him. He made a pass on her that night when he walked her to her front door. She was flabbergasted that he would try anything when his wife (Ria) was in the car at the curb a few feet away and so she pushed him off the porch into the bushes. Clark turned out to…
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July Movie of the Month: Parnell (1937)
In July, for the month that celebrates the anniversary of this website, I always select an important Clark Gable film–one that is a highlight in his career for one reason or another. This year I don’t think that Clark would agree with my choice! It is his much-maligned effort to portray a soft spoken Irishman in Parnell. In this historical melodrama, Gable is Charles Stewart Parnell, an 1880′s Irish politician dubbed “The Uncrowned King of Ireland” for fighting for Irish freedom from British rule. The British trump up false charges against him to try and keep his efforts down but are unsuccessful. But then Parnell falls in love with Katie O’Shea (Myrna Loy),…
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January Movie of the Month: Test Pilot (1938)
This month, Clark Gable is a fearless flyer, Myrna Loy is his worried wife and Spencer Tracy is his brooding sidekick in Test Pilot. 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 New York, he has…
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{Book Review} Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood
When I heard a bio on Myrna Loy was being released, I was very excited. Myrna’s autobiography,Being and Becoming, is hands down the best autobio I have read of a classic star. Honest and refreshingly un-fluffy, the book cemented me as a Myrna Loy fan for life. Unlike a lot of autobios, I felt that Myrna had really covered all the bases so I was intrigued as to what Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood could offer. Well. I can’t say this bio is overflowing with new information. I can’t say at all that I understand Myrna better as a person after reading it. I CAN say that I did…
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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.…