Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
Guillelmina
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
JohnHowardReid
Producer: Z. Wayne Griffin. Copyright 2 February 1950 (in notice: 1949) by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at Loew's State: 1 February 1950. U.S. release: 24 February 1950. U.K. release: 17 July 1950. Australian release: 14 July 1950. 8,999 feet. 99 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A romantic comedy in which a business-like woman from Maine (Loretta Young) and an ex-longshoreman (Clark Gable) meet as delegates to a mayor's convention in San Francisco. COMMENT: It's almost inevitable in a romantic comedy that a few dull patches will surface here and there as the clichés of cute meets and their subsequent romantic entanglements and misunderstandings are thoroughly thrashed out. But running parallel to all this in Key to the City are three or four more lively threads, including a couple of chucklesome sequences with James Gleason parlaying with a wonderfully cute lychee seller (uncredited), as well as running interference with a gaggle of newshounds led by a delightfully resurgent Marvin Kaplan.
We also enjoyed the entrance and climactic comeuppance of our favorite heavy, Raymond Burr (even though obvious stuntmen were much in evidence in the actual fight); whilst it's always such a pleasure to encounter Marilyn Maxwell, we couldn't help feeling a bit sorry when her stuntperson suffered such a significant defeat at the hands of Loretta Young.As for Miss Young herself, she acquits her tailor-made role quite ably, but we felt she was outshone by her more pliant and-dare we say it?-more charismatic co-star, Clark Gable.
Amongst the support players not commended as yet, I'd like to single out Frank Morgan and Clinton Sundberg as contributors of the most fun. Both are artists with an ability to transmute silvery dialogue into pure entertainment gold.
Technically, the movie benefits from Sidney's sometimes lively direction and the always superb camerawork of Harold Rosson. Some real city hall-type locations are effectively utilized too.OTHER VIEWS: The comedy takes a distinct second place to romance, though it does incorporate a few fast action highlights of which the first, a slapstick brawl in a Chinese night club, is by far the funniest and most inventively far-fetched. As might be expected, the script's opportunities for political satire are crowded out by the main virile-male-meets-girl-of-his-dreams plot, but George Sidney's direction has its clever moments and Harold Rosson's photography is never less than skilfully atmospheric. A big budget helps too.
DKosty123
A talented cast here brings off a pretty good comedy. Clark Gable is playing a Honest Longshoreman who has been elected Mayor in a Corrupt California City. He is attending a Mayors Convention in San Francisco. He has 2 blonde lady friends including Marilyn Maxwell who are exotic dancers trying to show him a good time. Then he meets a Mayor from Maine (Loretta Young) and the fireworks begin to crackle. Meanwhile Gables city is starting to ram through a crooked building project headed by a seedy ringleader (Raymond Burr). This leads to a whole lot of comedy as Gable is torn between the blondes, Young, and then has to go back home to stop Burr. Meanwhile Gable and Young get caught by the San Francisco Police in a couple of raids. Fearing scandal Young is between a rock and a hard place trying to keep her reputation and court Gable all at once. Then there is the police Sargent played by James Gleason who keeps covering for the 2 of them after each arrest. This is one of James Gleasons better supporting roles. Frank Morgan plays a confidant of Gable though he speaks with the strangest Irish/Scottish type of accent I have ever heard throughout the movie. There is more to this, but if you want to enjoy a great cast giving you some laughs, this movie is very much worth your time.
roslein-674-874556
For those who know that Loretta Young had an affair with Clark Gable many years before this movie, when he was married, and had a daughter whom she pretended she adopted, their romantic pairing here may seem embarrassing rather than exciting. What's also awkward is that both too old for the silly incidents that make up the he-man vs. beautiful spinster plot: woman embarrassed by sexy dance in nightclub, people arrested by mistake, man thrown into fountain. The dumb joke of people talking at cross-purposes (respectable woman mistaken for party girl, men in adjoining phone booths not realising they are talking to each other) is repeated again and again. They are also too old to fall in love and decide to get married on the same night--by the standards of the time, Young, at 37, would have been, like Gable at 49, middle aged. And both are too old to be resolving matters with a knock-down, drag-out fight (Young with Marilyn Maxwell, Gable with Raymond Burr) that is very obviously performed with stand-ins. Two references to earlier Gable greats (Young plays "San Francisco" on the piano during a nightclub riot, Gable threatens to break a woman's bedroom door down, as he did in Gone with the Wind) are not cheekily amusing, just depressing reminders of much better movies.In a way, the worst thing about the movie is the way it exemplifies its time. It's so Fifties! Although Young has devoted her life to public service, Clark Gable just has to kiss her and she can't wait to throw over her career and start baking cookies. The lazy direction, lacking rhythm and snap, of this story full of holes, that invites us to laugh at grownups acting silly is typical of that patronising, anti- intellectual decade.On the plus side, there are some clever lines and a good cast of supporting players, including Raymond Walburn and Jimmy Gleason. I don't include among them Frank Morgan (the Wizard of Oz), doing his tongue- tied, fumble-thumbs schtick for the umpteenth time. Am I the only one who thinks he acts like a child molester?
Ben Burgraff (cariart)
KEY TO THE CITY is certainly a lighthearted, if occasionally lightheaded comedy about a Mayors' Conference in San Francisco, but it is also great fun, and a throwback to Clark Gable's enjoyable comic work of the 1930s. Since 'the King' had returned from wartime service, his films had all been preachy and somber (perhaps in deference to the continuing sense of loss he felt over the death of his wife, Carole Lombard, or, more likely, because MGM simply hadn't figured out how to best utilize the older, more care-worn veteran star), and you can see that he's enjoying every moment portraying a ruggedly virile 'Longshoreman Mayor'. Casting Loretta Young as his co-star certainly helped, as the pair had quite a history together!Young had been a 'star' since childhood, sort of the Jodie Foster/Diane Lane of her day, and had often been attracted to her older leading men. Marrying co-star Grant Withers at 17 (it was soon annulled), she then became involved in a scandalous affair with Spencer Tracy during the filming of A MAN'S CASTLE, which ended badly when Tracy, a devout Catholic, refused to divorce his wife. At 22, she made CALL OF THE WILD with the 34-year-old Gable, and was soon pregnant with his child (after shooting ended, she took a long leave of absence for 'health' reasons, and gave birth to a girl, who she eventually adopted). Gable knew of his daughter, although the threat of scandal kept both stars silent (a child born out of wedlock would have destroyed both of their careers), creating a 'bond' between Young and Gable that surpassed any of his other co-stars. At 37 when KEY TO THE CITY was filmed, Young, by now an Oscar-winner and screen legend, was still radiantly beautiful, and the sexual chemistry between the stars was genuine. As a good-hearted but repressed New England mayor, she brought out his 'nobler' qualities, as he aroused her 'baser' desires.One of the joys of KEY TO THE CITY is getting to see so many of MGM's legendary 'stock' company, late in their careers, but still giving 'first-rate' performances. Frank 'Wizard of Oz' Morgan, Lewis 'Judge Hardy' Stone, James 'Pop Corkle' Gleason, Raymond 'His Honor' Walburn, and Clara 'Auntie Em' Blandick all shine, as do 'future stars' Marilyn Maxwell (as a sexy dancer) and Raymond Burr, who is simply terrific as Gable's corrupt nemesis. Watch carefully, and you'll also spot veteran Western star Jack Elam, and future 'My Favorite Martian' leading lady, Pamela Britton, in small roles, early in their careers.While some moments (Gable dressed as the 'Blue Boy', for example) are downright silly, and the climax, a 'no-holds-barred' fistfight between Gable and Burr (and Young and Maxwell), stretches credibility well past the breaking point, the film never loses it's sense of fun. This is the Gable of legend, looking good, "cracking wise", and unafraid to 'size up' a woman, or cut an opponent 'down to size'.Definitely worth watching!
