Forsaking All Others (1934)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
MGM fluff has Jeff (Clark Gable) returning from Spain with plans of proposing to Mary (Joan Crawford) but once home he learns that she's about to marry Dillon (Robert Montgomery). Jeff decides to take it like a man and step to the side but when Dillon runs off and marries another woman he must try and figure out the best way to get to Mary. Only thing is that she's not too bright and goes running back to the married Dillon. There's quite a bit of plot in this 84-minutes but none of it is overly original. This isn't a bad movie but considering the cast and director one can't help but be a little disappointed that it's not better. I don't think it's any secret that the main reason to watch this is because of the terrific cast. Gable is in top-form here as he's very believable in the role and you can't help but feel for the guy and enjoy the class that the actor brings. The more I see from Gable pre-IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT films the more impressed I am. Crawford doesn't get any added benefits from the screenplay, which pretty much just writes her as a dumb-chick who makes one dumb move after another but the actress does what she can. She's certainly charming enough in the role. Montgomery isn't too bad as the romantic slime but for some reason the screenplay seems to forget this is a drama when he's on screen. There are countless scenes with him falling, tripping or hurting himself in other ways that gives one the impression that this was some sort of slapstick film at some point. Charles Butterworth steals the film in each of his scenes and we also get Billie Burke as a real bad girl. The opening credits here are extremely bizarre as the film opens with the three stars marching arm to arm down a row towards the camera with the biggest smiles on their face as if this was some sort of musical. I'm not sure what the point of this was but I doubt the studio had much of an idea on what they were wanting to do outside making a lot of cash with the three leads. If you're a fan of the stars then this is a must see but at the same time it's a shame more wasn't done to try and make it better.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
MGM fluff has Jeff (Clark Gable) returning from Spain with plans of proposing to Mary (Joan Crawford) but once home he learns that she's about to marry Dillon (Robert Montgomery). Jeff decides to take it like a man and step to the side but when Dillon runs off and marries another woman he must try and figure out the best way to get to Mary. Only thing is that she's not too bright and goes running back to the married Dillon. There's quite a bit of plot in this 84-minutes but none of it is overly original. This isn't a bad movie but considering the cast and director one can't help but be a little disappointed that it's not better. I don't think it's any secret that the main reason to watch this is because of the terrific cast. Gable is in top-form here as he's very believable in the role and you can't help but feel for the guy and enjoy the class that the actor brings. The more I see from Gable pre-IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT films the more impressed I am. Crawford doesn't get any added benefits from the screenplay, which pretty much just writes her as a dumb-chick who makes one dumb move after another but the actress does what she can. She's certainly charming enough in the role. Montgomery isn't too bad as the romantic slime but for some reason the screenplay seems to forget this is a drama when he's on screen. There are countless scenes with him falling, tripping or hurting himself in other ways that gives one the impression that this was some sort of slapstick film at some point. Charles Butterworth steals the film in each of his scenes and we also get Billie Burke as a real bad girl. The opening credits here are extremely bizarre as the film opens with the three stars marching arm to arm down a row towards the camera with the biggest smiles on their face as if this was some sort of musical. I'm not sure what the point of this was but I doubt the studio had much of an idea on what they were wanting to do outside making a lot of cash with the three leads. If you're a fan of the stars then this is a must see but at the same time it's a shame more wasn't done to try and make it better.