[8] William Wellman directs Clark Gable in this loose adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel. While the book is entirely from the point-of-view of Buck, a weathered sled dog, this film version focuses more on human characters. Gable and his comedic sidekick (Jack Oakie) are on a quest for gold in the Yukon when they stumble across a lone woman (Loretta Young) fighting off wolves. …
[8] Barbara Stanwyck stars in this pre-code drama about a scrappy young nurse trying to save two sick children from an evil chauffeur (Clark Gable) whose poisoning them so he can marry their drunk mother (Charlotte Merriam) and steal their trust fund. Night Nurse is a great vehicle for Stanwyck, who spends the first half of the film befriending wise-cracking Joan Blondell and falling in …
[4] Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck star in this story of a midget car racer (Gable) whose treacherous tactics get exposed by a prying news reporter (Stanwyck). After he’s blamed for causing the death of another driver, Gable’s racing career implodes. Stanwyck finds him doing daredevil stunts for a circus. Despite the obvious animosity he has for her, the two fall for each other. As …
[6] This is a serendipitous romantic comedy pairing frequent costars Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. Gable plays a reporter who runs away with a press-weary heiress, hoping to snag the headline of the century. But naturally, he falls in love with the dame, which would be complicated enough without being mistaken for spies. Gable and Crawford are having fun and it shows — especially when …
[6] A reckless west coast flyboy (Clark Gable) is forced to make an emergency landing in Kansas where he meets and falls in love with a farm girl (Myrna Loy). Test Pilot starts out a screwball comedy and disintegrates into a predictable weepy. But despite the tonal shift, this movie features very good performances from its three stars. Gable shows uncharacteristic but welcome vulnerability, while …
[2] This laughably bad melodrama is based on a Eugene O’Neill stage play about a woman who cheats on her mentally ill husband in order to have a kid who won’t end up in the looney bin. Clark Gable and Norma Shearer give insanely over-the-top theatrical performances. I was reminded of Jon Lovitz’s ‘Actor’ skit on Saturday Night Live. The movie is also littered with …
[3] Clark Gable escapes the Devil’s Island penal colony and takes floozie Joan Crawford along for the ride. Along with a handful of other fleeing criminals, they rough it through the jungle and long days at sea to reach the mainland and freedom. Sounds like a great matinee movie, but then enters Ian Hunter, who plays a moralizing goodie-two-shoes escapee named Cambreau. At the height …
[7] Hollywood’s most celebrated melodrama is still entertaining today. Vivien Leigh does a remarkable job playing one of the most volatile heroines in film history. Scarlet O’Hara begins Margaret Mitchell’s story damned spoiled, and I’m not sure she ever really learns her lesson, but Leigh renders a subtle transformation while always remaining true to character. My other favorites are Olivia de Havilland (sweet in everything …
[8] You know you’re in for a harrowing journey when the ship’s captain gives a dead man 300 lashes before the ship even leaves port. Charles Laughton steals the show here as the torturous Captain Bligh, a greedy monster who plays recklessly with the lives of his crew. Clark Gable is charismatic as Fletcher Christian, the man who leads the uprising against Bligh (and without …
[9] Somewhere along the way, Hollywood forgot how to make good romantic comedies. Because there are plenty of them to be found in the ’30s and ’40s, with Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night being chief among them. Claudette Colbert plays a rich gal running away from what is essentially an arranged marriage. After she bumps into a reporter played by Clark Gable on a …
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