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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Clark Gable: The Signature
Collection belongs in everyone's top drawer this
summer season. It features ‘the king' of the
movies in six of his most rousing charmers - five
worthy of the price tag, the other - Mogambo - an
inexplicable inclusion, since it is a remake of
the vastly superior Red Dust (1932), yet to be
release by Warner on DVD. Overall, the transfer
quality of this box is quite good - the one
abysmal disappointment being Wife Vs. Secretary
(1936) a delightfully genuine and unexpectedly
sublime tear jerker that will have the collector
wringing tears for how bad the film actually
looks: but more on quality in a moment.
Robert Z. Leonard's Dancing Lady (1933) is the
oldest film in the collection. It's a fairly
ambitious flick about Janie Barlow (Joan Crawford)
an equally ambitious hoofer who does double duty
in a house of burlesque as a stripper nicknamed
‘duchess.' Enter Tod Newton (Franchot Tone) the
man about town with a penchant for slumming it on
the wrong side of the tracks. Discovering a rare
find in Janie, Tod sets her up for a musical debut
on Broadway to be directed by the slave driving
Patch Gallagher (Gable).
As with most fluff and nonsense that passed for
delightfully effervescent musical extravaganzas of
this vintage - there's really no doubt from the
start that Patch and Janie are destined to lock
lips before the final fade out. Earlier, Patch
provides his own version of disconnect when he
asks Janie, "You wanna work with me?" With an
emphatic ‘yes' from his aspiring hopeful, Patch
lets Janie have the back of his hand with a polite
butt slap to which an exuberant Crawford
angelically replies, "Thank you!"
Apart from showcasing The Three Stooges in minor
cameos as three clueless stage managers, and the
sudden and quite unexpected appearance of Fred
Astaire and Nelson Eddy (cast as themselves), the
film is justly famous for two lavishly produced
production numbers: "Heigh-Ho, the Gang's All
Here" - that Crawford rambunctiously hoofs with
Astaire; and ‘the carousel number' in which a
score of scantily clad lovelies and Crawford
cavort on a mind-boggling art deco merry-go-round
illuminated from within. It's really quite
spectacular.
Tay Garnett's China Seas (1935) is next up; a
delightfully wacky ship-to-shore extravaganza with
the egotistically charming Capt. Alan Gaskell
(Gable) maneuvering his vessel and an all-star
cast en route from Hong Kong to Singapore. The
roster includes Wallace Beery as blowhard gambler
Jamesy McArdley, Lewis Stone (3rd officer Tom
Davids), Jean Harlow (as smart-mouthed old flame,
Dolly ‘China Doll' Portland) and Rosalind Russell
(cast as knockout new flame cum fiancée, Lady
Sybil Barclay, turning up the heat with Gable).
Vintage hams and character actors Akim Tamaroff,
C. Aubrey Smith and Robert Benchley make the most
of their brief cameos throughout this adventurous
journey.
Despite his cool exterior, Gaskell's really a
‘good egg' and hopelessly devoted to his fiancée.
He shuns Dolly's ambitious - though not very
tactful - attempts to regain her toe-hold on his
life and even finds time to make the most
insulting remarks seem utterly charming; "It's bad
enough having a ship that looks like this and a
captain that looks like me without having a first
officer that looks like you!" Such was the animal
magnetism and genuine mystique of Clark Gable.
But there's rough trade ahead for this crew and
its cargo - a mint in gold coin absconded from the
orient and for which Gaskell and his ship are
later besought by a violent pirate attack that
places Dolly and Jamesey as coconspirators in the
theft. Never dull, and often quite thrilling,
China Seas is the sort of ripe ambitious movie
that helped build Gable into the thirties most
celebrated male hero - a moniker he rightfully
held and deserved.
Clarence Brown's Wife Vs. Secretary (1936) is an
astute and frank examination of what becomes of
the happy American home after self-doubt and
speculation are planted as destructive seeds in
the minds of its blissfully ignorant couple. In
the film's case, that couple is Van (Gable) and
Linda Stanhope (Myrna Loy). He's a big shot
publisher - she's the delightfully content little
women/socialite. Although Van's secretary is the
precocious girl next door with a killer bod',
Helen Wilson (Jean Harlow), Linda is unmoved by
petty jealousies. Instead, Linda and Van's home is
an idyllic sanctuary filled with gay parties and
sublime marital happiness, mutual respect and
understanding. That is, until Van's meddlesome
matriarch, Mimi (May Robson) suggests that perhaps
it would be prudent of Linda to have Helen
transferred to another office. But it's no use.
Helen is an indispensable appendage to Van.
Despite being the furthest thing from a mantrap,
Helen nevertheless manages to get herself involved
in several awkward debacles that make her
relationship with her employer appear more than
merely professional to Linda. Such as the night in
Havana when, after working feverishly on a
business proposal in Van's suite, Helen
accidentally picks up the phone in his room only
to find Linda listening in on the other end.
Eventually, Linda puts two and two together and
comes up with a million reasons why Helen should
be fired. Her impatient pleas eventually become
threats - threats that Van won't tolerate against
an innocent woman. The two start their divorce
proceedings and Helen begins to entertain the
prospect of accepting Van's gifts even though she
realizes he is still desperately in love with his
wife.
In one of the film's most fondly remembered and
deftly executed moments, Helen confronts Linda,
who has decided to leave her husband for good.
"You're a fool," Helen explains, "For which I am
grateful." Never coy of cloying, Wife Vs.
Secretary is a rare gem in Gable's career. Ditto
for Harlow's and Loy's.
Bare none, the best Gable movie in this box set
however is W.S. Van Dyke's San Francisco (1936) -
the rousing blockbuster that casts ‘the king' as
disreputably loveable saloonkeeper, Blackie
Norton. Always in the market for a fresh face and
new pair of legs to adorn his gambling paradise
and beer garden, Blackie auditions precociously
pure, Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald). Though her
voice is choice, her squeaky clean persona as a
church-going gal and chanteuse of the choir
doesn't bode well with Blackie's idea of ‘a dame.'
However, smitten with Mary as a possible romantic
lead for himself behind closed doors, and in part
to thwart Mary's attempts at romance or career
advancement anywhere else, Blackie signs her to a
two-year exclusive engagement. After Mary passes
out from hunger at the club and is revived by Nob
Hill socialite Jack Burley (Jack Holt) and Signor
Baldini (William Ricciardi) she is offered an even
more desirable career in grand opera. Naturally
Blackie refuses to release Mary from her contract.
Instead, he pursues her socially and almost wins
out - that is, until noble friend and cleric,
Father Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy) intervenes in
the burgeoning romance. Enraged, Blackie and
Father Tim get into a skirmish that Blackie wins -
though he loses his girl. To defy her old lover,
Mary enters a competition at Blackie's
establishment - belting out the rousing ‘San
Francisco' and easily winning the $10,000 cash
prize.
But the moment triumphant is shattered by the epic
1906 Frisco earthquake that virtually levels the
city into ruin. Apart from the solidly crafted
melodrama which is top notch and appealing, as
well as MacDonald's rendering of choice spiritual
and secular tunes, the film is outstanding for its
breathtaking visual effects that match the real
quake - brick-for-toppling-brick - in spectacular
devastation. Of MGM's illustrious film output of
the decade, San Francisco ranks among the best.
Spencer Tracy ditches his collar for a shovel and
a dream alongside Clark Gable in Jack Conway's
rough and tumble Boom Town (1940). Gable is Big
John McMaster, a by-the-scruff prospector
determined to strike it rich in the oil boom.
Tracy is his nemesis, Jonathan Sands. Oh yeah, you
just know this town isn't big enough for the both
of them. After a polite confrontation crossing the
street - that ends when gun shots fired from a
nearby saloon send both men diving into the mud
for cover - the race begins for who will win out
in the high stakes race for supremacy amongst the
oil barons.
Claudette Colbert appears to good effect as
Gable's virtuous wife, Elizabeth Bartlett
McMasters who sees the good in every man - even
Sands. But it's sultry siren, Hedy LaMarr as
ruthless and sometimes cutthroat businesswoman,
Karen Vanmeer that steals the show. LaMarr's
smoldering sensuality is an enticement for both
men to throw in their digs and sell out to the
highest bidder. But who will dominate in the final
reel? Best to see the film and prepare to be
astonished…or at least, entertained. Resident
character hams, Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill and
the delightfully obtuse, Chill Wills round out the
stellar cast. In the final analysis, Boom Town is
high-octane sexy good fun with male testosterone
in overdrive.
Director John Ford never made a bad film; but
Mogambo (1953) - the final film in this box set
comes dangerously close. An unnecessary and
inferior remake of one of Gable's most celebrated
movies, Red Dust (1932 and featuring the vastly
superior vamp, Jean Harlow), on this occasion the
part of Eloise ‘Honey Bear' Kelly is passed to Ava
Gardner, whose own brand of hot blooded foreplay
cannot match Harlow's original sassy raunch.
Eloise has eyes for Victor Marswell (Gable) the
proprietor of a big game trapping company.
Believing that the film's appeal would be
immensely fleshed out by a change of scenery, MGM
opened its coffers to photograph this melodrama
amidst the expansive backdrop of Kenya. Eloise
gets her hooks into Vic until the arrival of Mr.
Donald (Donald Sinden) and Mrs. Linda Nordley
(Grace Kelly) arrive for a gorilla safari. Linda's
affections have drifted away from her aloof
husband - a divide enhanced by Vic's persuasive
charm and charisma that sets Eloise's jealous mind
afire. Essentially a conflict of interest romantic
melodrama with an exotic backdrop tacked on for
good measure - the film is just barely middle of
the road amusing, despite the fact that it was
nominated for 2 Oscars in 1954.
Transfers: The best of the bunch in order of
pristine quality are Boom Town, Dancing Lady and
San Francisco. In the case of all three, the gray
scale has been impeccably mastered with a broad
spectrum of tonality. Blacks are solid and deep.
Whites are generally clean. Age related artifacts
are less evident on the first two titles - but not
troublesome or distracting on the latter
aforementioned either. Fine details are visible
throughout. While film grain is present throughout
each presentation, it will not distract. China
Seas appears to have been mastered from a slightly
less contrasted print element. It's a tad darker
than one would hope for in spots and shows more
signs of wear and tear in terms of age related
artifacts.
However, the worst looking monochromatic transfer
in the lot is Wife Vs. Secretary - an undeniably
shoddy mastering effort from Warner with pervasive
and quite often distracting age related damage, as
well as a poorly contrasted tonality that is much
too dark. In addition to these shortcomings, the
image is overly soft and portions appear not to
have been progressively enhanced, suffering from
digital combing. Mogambo - the only Technicolor
transfer in the collection isn't very impressive
either. Age related artifacts abound throughout.
The color palette is often quite muddy and
inconsistently rendered with an overriding
brownish tint and more film grain than one would
expect from a movie of this vintage. There's also
a hint of minor negative shrinkage with subtle but
obvious haloing effects - albeit for very brief
moments. Nevertheless, these shortcomings are
distracting to the overall enjoyment of the film.
Extras are a tad disappointing, but they include
vintage short subjects, cartoons and theatrical
trailers for all films. There's also an
alternative ending included on the San Francisco
disc. What this reviewer finds problematic about
all of Warner's ‘signature' box sets - presumably
designed to extol the virtues of a particular
artist's body of work (Errol Flynn, Hitchcock and
Garbo have been others in this Warner line up) -
is the stunning lack of backstory for any of the
artists who have been so endowed with such a
collection. We get NO brief featurettes about the
films, no polite intros from resident DVD
commentator, Leonard Malten and no biographic
information - either by way of a short subject or
a full blown biography on the star of the hour.
Collections billed as ‘signature' editions deserve
at least as much consideration. Wouldn't you
agree? |
