Getting To Know Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke was a beautiful and talented screen actress whose career shone most brightly in early-1930s "pre-Code" films. She's become a favorite of mine, so I'd like to share my top picks for the uninitiated.
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- DirectorJames WhaleStarsMae ClarkeDouglass MontgomeryDoris LloydA prostitute's self-loathing makes her reluctant to marry an idealistic soldier during World War I.Mae Clarke's greatest performance, starring in a romantic drama about a wartime prostitute with a chance to find love with a naive young soldier. It's Mae's film, start to finish, and she does a good job. Her acting was always very naturalistic, in an era when that wasn't the norm. The drama centers around her character, an out-of-work chorus girl who's turned to other means to pay her bills, and her internal conflict when a soldier from a nice family wants to marry her, not knowing the truth about her past. It's a heartbreaking performance, but little-known in the wake of the popular 1940 remake with Vivien Leigh.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsMae ClarkeRalph BellamyMarie PrevostA young woman released on parole vows to ruin the life of the man who insisted on sending her to jail.A desperate Mae Clarke gets caught in a department store extortion scheme and is sent to prison, despite her pleas for leniency. When she gets out, she takes revenge on the man who showed her no pity by staging a phony marriage to him and blackmailing him with threats of bigamy charges. But as they play the happily married couple to keep up appearances, they grow genuinely fond of one another. Mae Clarke is vulnerable and sympathetic as a good girl who's had tough breaks, and she shows a hardened, scheming side, too. She's never as bad as she tries to be, and the story is really sweet. It's a winning performance.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJean HarlowMae ClarkeWalter ByronCassie moves to New York and jumps from one job to another until she lands a modeling gig.Clarke does the unthinkable, stealing scenes away from Jean Harlow (whose hair & makeup at this stage was garish). Mae plays Jean's friend in the big city, a department store model and suffering odd-woman-out in a married man's love triangle. She has such charisma onscreen, coming alive in front of the camera. And her character experiences the full range of emotions in her melodrama arc.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsJohn GilbertRobert ArmstrongMae ClarkeGunner and Bucker are pals who work as riveters. Whenever Bucker gets the urge to marry, which is often, Gunner will hit on his girl to see if she is true or not. So far, Gunner has not failed. But one night, while Gunner is in jail, Bucker meets Mary, a tough dame with a line. He falls for her, and she falls for his dough. But Mary is already a gal pal of Gunner, and no two know about the third one. The trouble starts when the triangle is revealed too late.Clarke is part of an odd love triangle with best buds John Gilbert and Robert Armstrong. A street-wise dame who knows how to use men for their money, she spots an easy target in Armstrong and wins him over with the old "sick grandmother" act. Meanwhile, she's good friends with Gilbert, who knows the real girl behind the act and is crazy about her. Armstrong falls for the innocent girl Clarke pretends to be while Clarke is really stuck on Gilbert, and the two buddies don't realize they're after the same girl. This is one of Mae Clarke's tough "dame" roles, but she still comes off as sympathetic. She's at ease in front of the camera, playing the different layers of her character.
- DirectorGeorge ArchainbaudStarsEdna May OliverRobert ArmstrongJames GleasonShady stockbroker and abusive husband Gerald Parker is found dead in the penguin pool of a NYC aquarium after being knocked cold by his wife's boyfriend.Mae Clarke provides the eye candy in this breezy whodunit starring Edna May Oliver. As the pivot point in a love triangle that may have led to a murder, Clarke may be an innocent victim or a suspected accomplice.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsEdward G. RobinsonMary AstorRicardo CortezA talented young actress seems to be under the spell of her unscrupulous, avaricious, and totally unprincipled husband.In a secondary role, Clarke plays a stage actress in the same company as Edward G. Robinson and his sister Mary Astor. She accompanies Robinson after the big opening, when the drama unfolds. Clarke really shines in her minor role, always neglected or abused by Robinson (to comic effect). Relegated mostly to the background, her presence spices up the proceedings.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJames CagneyJean HarlowEdward WoodsAn Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.Probably Clarke's best-known performance, for better or worse. She has a minor role in this gangster classic as the girl who takes a grapefruit to the face from James Cagney over breakfast.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.Maybe her next-best-remembered performance. She hasn't much to do in this landmark horror film, playing the bride-to-be of troubled scientist Henry Frankenstein. She looks lovely, though, and is the victim of a wedding-day attack.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsJames CagneyMae ClarkeMargaret LindsayA former gangster makes it big in Hollywood, but his old life catches up with him.Not one of my favorite Mae Clarke performances, but a memorable one. She's a femme fatale in this tale about a hood-turned-Hollywood star (James Cagney). Seductive in her slinky attire, Clarke lures men to their downfall, working for a gang of crooks. She uses her wiles to keep Cagney tied with the gang.