ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

mark.waltz Long before they were an off-screen couple, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable were paired on screen. Once, it turns out, and that pairing (which should have lead to others) is one of the greatest in film history. Gable plays a gambler who gets rid of a mistress (Dorothy Mackaill) and takes a trip out of New York to put some distance between them. Staying in a small town, Gable meets pretty librarian Carole Lombard, romances her and on a whim, marries her. He's already told Mackaill he's not the marrying kind, so when the newlywed couple get back to New York, there is lots of confusion among Gable's crowd who are shocked by his impetuous decision. Gable's involved in crooked gambling schemes, and the pressures of his new life force Gable to decide to take drastic measures to change. Mackaill pops back up to offer her replacement a piece of advice and spill some beans of her own.Before Clark Gable put on his mustache, he was quite a dashing looking young man, and in this film, he is even better than he was in many of his MGM films. It is ironic that away from his home studio, he lightened up a bit, the other time being his Oscar Winning performance in Columbia's "It Happened One Night". The truly likable Carole Lombard is beautiful without being a threat, a young lady filled with humor, charm and spunk, truly natural in her acting style and a heroine you genuinely route for. Many young actresses over the decades have tried to emulate her without success.Gable and Lombard show playful spunk in a scene in the small town library where Lombard works. Elizabeth Patterson is delightful as Lombard's imperious mother, with Grant Mitchell in fine support as Gable's associate. Mackail, once a pre-code star of shady lady dramas, gives her all to the seemingly hard character who can't help but be won over when she sees the truth about who Lombard really is. Real life couples don't often work together well on-screen (most of Taylor & Burton's films) but that is not the case here. Maybe that's the charm that couldn't be repeated in further pairings, so we're lucky we have the one.

Neil Doyle The above heading tells the whole story--and because of the great chemistry between Lombard and Gable, you know how it's going to turn out even when things look bad for their flip of the coin decision to marry. CLARK GABLE and CAROLE LOMBARD are clearly deserving a better script than this, but they manage to keep the whole thing breezy and easy to watch simply because of their magnetism.Gable without his mustache still has the famous charm that makes his card shark a lovable enough gangster, and Lombard is a vision of loveliness whether wearing daytime clothes or lingerie or satin lounging pajamas. They both look remarkably at ease as romantic co-stars years before they married in real life.GRANT WITHERS is Gable's friend and has the only supporting role worth mentioning, aside from ELIZABETH PATTERSON as Carole's sweet and fluttery mother. The tale rests entirely on the skillful interplay between the two stars and it's a good thing, because the plot is transparently thin and never really goes anywhere.Directed by Wesley Ruggles, it's a shame the script didn't give the pair a better opportunity to shine but they do, despite the weaknesses of a so-so story.

writerasfilmcritic I think other reviewers heard that this was supposed to be "a screwball comedy" and ran with that idea because they didn't know what else to say. I didn't see anything light and fluffy or "screwball" about it. Perhaps "offbeat" might be a more apt characterization. Gable's interpretation of the New York gambler was interesting because something in his usual sort of charming yet manly approach was notably lacking. He possessed the irreverent and utterly confident attitude we have come to associate with his other performances, but a number of his youthful facial expressions were of a more complex and unfamiliar sort. The reserved yet knowing way he nodded howdy-do upon introduction to Lombard's mother and then her father was especially amusing, I thought. There were also the many intriguing interactions with the actress, herself, particularly with regard to the touchy subjects of marriage and stability. The oft-subtle writing in this flick made for several interesting moments and both actors were fully up to the challenge of a sensitive and intelligent interpretation of the script. It is also interesting that there was allegedly no actual romantic attachment between these two because the chemistry was already quite evident. It must have miffed a number of the more glamorous Hollywood starlets when Lombard won Gable's heart in real life. Although beautiful, she wasn't glamorous, nor was she pretentious and affected, but more like the girl next door. I read that the library scene (where Gable sent her up a ladder as an excuse to examine her legs) single-handedly started some sort of decency league in the motion picture industry. The bluenoses are always with us, aren't they, shoving their childish attitudes down the throats of the adults. Much more risqué was the scene in which Lombard's predecessor, Kay, appeared on screen in a see-through nightgown that revealed critical aspects of her anatomy, both front and back. The thirties obviously were a much less prudish time because her gentlemen friends didn't even pay much attention, at least not overtly, and scenes such as that would not appear in movies again until the sixties. We've noted a similar sensuality in other movies from that era. As a society, we keep coming back to the cultural doldrums, where they are pushing wealth or war or something else that always seems to further the interests of those in control. Unconventional times like the thirties and the sixties are few and far between. It showed in this movie.

MartinHafer Although this film is from relatively early in his career, this film doesn't feel particularly original. Already by 1932, Gable was starting to fall into a pattern where he plays the slick guy looking to earn a dishonest buck and by the end of the film he shows that he really has a heart of gold. He went on to do this in perhaps a couple dozen films--even in his most famous role of Rhett Butler.Apart from being the one and only pairing with his future sweetie, Carole Lombard, it is a pretty ordinary and forgettable film. Now, this is NOT to say it is bad--it's a time-passer and a good film for fans of Gable to see--this is pure Gable--even without his later trademark mustache. Now as far as Lombard goes, this film is a little more disappointing. Instead of her usual feisty character, she is a bit saccharine and one-dimensional. This film could have been better.About the only thing that distinguishes this film is that it was obviously made before the production code was tightened--with more sexual innuendo and skin that later Hollywood offerings.