Off the screen since the death of his wife Carole Lombard in‘42, and then service in WWII, Clark Gable returned with Greer Garson in this much anticipated, if misguided, opposites-attract romance famous for its ad-copy (GABLE’S BACK AND GARSON’S GOT HIM!) and for flopping at the box-office. (It actually made a considerable profit.*) Even with Gable directing pal Victor Fleming, it’s no RED DUST/’32 or GONE WITH THE WIND/’39, let alone TEST PILOT/’38, their other films together. The set-up sees Gable’s alpha-male Merchant Marine back in San Fran after being torpedoed, meeting Garson’s Elizabeth Barrett Browning quoting librarian and immediately sparking a relationship so combustible, they mange to dislike each other right into a quickie marriage . . . followed by a quickie divorce. Color is added via Joan Blondell, cheerleading for the bride; and a conscience for the groom in shipmate Thomas Mitchell. Those two are fine; the leads, not so much. Gable less charming rogue than big-time jerk; Garson as much at fault as the script since she proves unable to get the ball back to him. Just check out Rosalind Russell with Gable in THEY MET IN BOMBAY/’41 to see how this problematic script might have worked with a faster, tougher, more acerbic comic player on the other side of the net.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Profitable or not, someone knew something had gone off for these stars who spent almost two years off screen figuring out their next step. And it was worse for director Fleming with three down years before making what turned out to be his last film, a big flop version of JOAN OF ARC/’48 with Ingrid Bergman.
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