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.
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.