When Greer Garson smacks Clark Gable over the head with a plate in a San Francisco waterfront saloon during a riot, I wished that she had picked up the heaviest bottle she could lay her hand on with the stickiest liquor possible. His character is wretched from the start, not someone you want to spend two hours rooting for. But of course, Garson and Gable somehow fall in love, or at least that's what the script tells us, getting involved in various "adventures" that make them both look like idiots. Actually, the one responsible is the script writer who creates the two most absurd leading characters for a big budget movie, directed by a legend (Victor Fleming), leading to the biggest fiasco of their careers.
The first twenty minutes focuses on the nasty tempered Gable, spiritually disturbed Thomas Mitchell, and the alleged presumption that Mitchell's prayer saved them after their ship was torpedoed. They end up in the city by the bridge, and Mitchell begins to whine that his soul has been destroyed as a result of evil thoughts he had. They end up in the San Francisco main library where they create a disturbance, Gable worst of all, and seemingly prudish librarian Garson keeps trying to shush them, first with her finger up to her lips, then with personal insults towards Gable in her attempts to get him to leave. Along comes Garson's vivacious secretary pal, Joan Blondell, and as a group, they end up in a dive where Garson starts a riot and bids Gable a rude goodbye. Of course, he's worse than a bad penny, and shows up out of the blue so he can see the farm Garson wants to sell, and the next thing you know, Gable and Garson are in court tying the knot.
Having seen this years ago and recalling how bored I was with it, now I am just aghast how bad it is. The characters are either completely unbelievable or over the top, and the leading pair has absolutely no spark whatsoever. Just because they were mutual Oscar Winners and under contract to MGM doesn't mean that their styles matched. At least Garson had "The Valley of Decision" this year to make amends for this fiasco. Gable has always been a bit too macho but those parts called for him to have other qualities as well, and here, he has no qualities no matter the twists of the script later in the film.
Blondell is basically playing a slightly older version of all those vivacious women she played at Warner Brothers in the 1930's, having worked with Gable in "Night Nurse". She's a bit too eager to get his arms around her and his lips on hers, so it's obvious that she's not going to hand him. She is the one who comes out the winner as opposed to Garson. Mitchell is also inconsistently written, and his character really serves no purpose other than to be a clean-shaven variation of George Gabby Hayes to Gable's not so heroic leading character. The MGM gloss shines bright, but the results of the film as a whole isn't the result of the lion. This one had the aroma of the MGM skunk.
The first twenty minutes focuses on the nasty tempered Gable, spiritually disturbed Thomas Mitchell, and the alleged presumption that Mitchell's prayer saved them after their ship was torpedoed. They end up in the city by the bridge, and Mitchell begins to whine that his soul has been destroyed as a result of evil thoughts he had. They end up in the San Francisco main library where they create a disturbance, Gable worst of all, and seemingly prudish librarian Garson keeps trying to shush them, first with her finger up to her lips, then with personal insults towards Gable in her attempts to get him to leave. Along comes Garson's vivacious secretary pal, Joan Blondell, and as a group, they end up in a dive where Garson starts a riot and bids Gable a rude goodbye. Of course, he's worse than a bad penny, and shows up out of the blue so he can see the farm Garson wants to sell, and the next thing you know, Gable and Garson are in court tying the knot.
Having seen this years ago and recalling how bored I was with it, now I am just aghast how bad it is. The characters are either completely unbelievable or over the top, and the leading pair has absolutely no spark whatsoever. Just because they were mutual Oscar Winners and under contract to MGM doesn't mean that their styles matched. At least Garson had "The Valley of Decision" this year to make amends for this fiasco. Gable has always been a bit too macho but those parts called for him to have other qualities as well, and here, he has no qualities no matter the twists of the script later in the film.
Blondell is basically playing a slightly older version of all those vivacious women she played at Warner Brothers in the 1930's, having worked with Gable in "Night Nurse". She's a bit too eager to get his arms around her and his lips on hers, so it's obvious that she's not going to hand him. She is the one who comes out the winner as opposed to Garson. Mitchell is also inconsistently written, and his character really serves no purpose other than to be a clean-shaven variation of George Gabby Hayes to Gable's not so heroic leading character. The MGM gloss shines bright, but the results of the film as a whole isn't the result of the lion. This one had the aroma of the MGM skunk.