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Posts: 7054
Location: so cal
Joined: September 24, 2003
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I wouldn't stress about missing this one,
It's kind of long, plus a lot of it is about how sexy gable is, he was a big deal at the time, and , as you know, was a movie star of great and singular success. This movie is not top shelf in what it does, it's no Ben Hur, but not bad enough to be enjoyed by those who enjoy crap movies.
About like watching a western of that time, in the reality it paints, but with the gunfights replaced with drama. Gable isn't in the drawing room scenes, he is cast as a daring sea captain who has become so wealthy running the union war blockades, "polite society" is obligated to invite him to there parties. For a ship's captain, he spends a whole lot of time on land
(This paragraph is a plot discussion spoiler) So he sees the bell of the ball, pries her away from her white-bread boy friend, then she gets dumped because she turned out to be too stuck up to get serious about.
Gable, he's the guy who, when he took off his shirt in 'it happened one night," and wasn't wearing an undershirt, killed undershirt sales across the country. Guys just stopped wearing them. They never did make it all the way back, now they are called "wife beaters" ( I use a "T" shirt if I need an undershirt)
God knows how much money gable was getting at that time, I certainly wouldn't know.
I can say he was farmed out from his studio @ $2,500 a week to do the film , "It happened one night*," back in the thirties, because they had nothing for him at the time, and made $500 a week profit on the deal. The gossip magazines of the day played it as punishment from the studio. If you want to sell a male sex role, he is your guy.
So they cast an unknown actress against gable, probably to keep costs down, I would guess, it was already going to be an expensive film, lot's of big staging , and costumed extras. PLayed it up in national magazines as a big nationwide hunt for a Hollywood star, and it went over big. I was just a kid in grade school and heard about it. They came up with a real nice actress, who sustained a star career .
It won some academy awards, but it was so very good for the industry, and was very popular, it had to get something, the Hollywood ending.
I would suggest it only for curiosities sake. Boy gets girl, boy sees girl is superficial while contesting for girl, boy , well, you might have heard. They said "Damn" in a studio american movie for the first time. That's your pay off., and it's a long way to get to it.
Go for hell's angels with gene Harlow if you want star power and action. no digital in those crashes. The acting is still the old type where the entire body is used, but it is very effective even if seen as overly dramatic compared to the style today.
Or see hell's angels with fonda, dennis hopper,or whoever, that one might also be more fun, and I haven't even seen it.
* one of only three pictures to win the big five of the oscars, best picture, director, actress, actor, and screenplay.
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