secondtake Cain and Mabel (1936)Clark Gable is great in most of his movies and this is almost no exception—and I couldn't wait for him to appear. The corny style and silly humor that gets the film going is so dated and painful I almost gave up. But I stuck to it, and I tried to get used to Marion Davies. In short, this is an "old-fashioned" kind of musical compared to the "new" style propelled by Astaire and Rogers at the same time.The plot is great in the outline: a woman loses her waitressing job and a boxer is trying to get the attention of the world. They meet, and the sparks don't fly. But the pressures around them keep trying to get the two to ignite. Davies is "promoted" by a PR hack played by character actor Roscoe Karns, who is somewhere between funny and annoying. His exaggerated humor leaves nothing to the imagination, nowhere for the viewer to escape if it doesn't click. Gable's PR handlers are more generic, but equally formulaic. What makes things sometimes work is the interaction between the leads. While not billed as a screwball comedy, the elements are lined up here, especially the two leads at unbelievable odds and yet, somehow, you know they'll hook up. And there is the two- pronged plot element of wanting these two nice enough people to succeed—Davies as a dancer and Gable as a fighter.The premise is that the careers of both will soar if they fall in love in the public eye. Well, they do, and then what?Frankly, the singing styles and even the basic choreography is so simple and based in 1920s musicals (which I can't tolerate) and on Busby Berkely films from earlier in the decade, this movie was no fun to watch. If you like other musicals as much as I do (I'll watch Astaire and Rogers any day of the week), you might still have trouble with the acting styles, and the pushy jokes. Further, the basic premise of the two falling in love is stretched beyond the limit. The chemistry is just missing.The man behind all these style decisions is the director, Lloyd Bacon, whose movies (in my experience) tend toward caricature and a handling of stories that seems almost like it's taken from teen novels. ("Oklahoma Kid" is the poster child for this.) He was often surrounded by great talent, and of course he has Gable here, as well as the great cinematographer, George Barnes.So be warned. The high rating is a complete mystery. It's not that kind of classic.

jpheifer-1 This is a wonderful screwball comedy. Marion Davies is lovely and Clark Gable is lovelier. This is a movie that could easily be re-made today, as stars still have handlers and hangers-on who place their own interests at higher priority than the "cash cow," a.k.a. star, with whom they are associated.The dialog is great and well-delivered. Everyone gets a good line in. I found myself fast-forwarding through the song and dance numbers--never been a song and dance fan. The costumes are fairly plain, but elegant. There are some unfortunate sleeves and a laughable head-gear for poor Marion at the end of one of the numbers. And, you get to see Clark Gable in shorts.

drednm Marion Davies and Clark Gable star together in a second film (they had co-starred in POLLY OF THE CIRCUS) as a Broadway star and a prize fighter who get tricked into a phony publicity romance to increase their box office draw. Lots of snappy lines here as the two stars go through their paces, accompanied by a solid supporting cast. Davies gets doused with a bucket of water. She gets even, dousing Gable with water in a hallway. They trade insults Davies gets to star is two lavish production numbers. The "Coney Island" romp is fun with Davies singing and dancing with Sammy White. The "Thousand Love Songs" number is built on a huge stage (biggest ever, the roof was raised 35 ft to accommodate the massive sets) and includes a human pipe organ, a Venetian canal, and even a white wedding, with Davies as the centerpiece in all of them. Davies cracked a rib during a dance number. Too bad the dance double is badly done. Still a lot of fun all round.Ruth Donnelly, William Collier, Allen Jenkins, Pert Kelton, Robert Paige (billed as David Carlyle), Hobart Cavanaugh, Marie Prevost, E.E. Clive, Walter Catlett, and Roscoe Karns co-star. Sammy White is terrific in the "Coney Island" number, following up a great turn in SHOW BOAT with Irene Dunne. Jane Wyman is one of the chorus girls.Davies would make only one more film after CAIN AND MABEL.

MartinHafer Despite whether or not people came to see this movie (and they did), this movie was a real step back for Clark Gable in his attempt to gain acceptance as a starring actor. For several years, his movies had improved both in budgets and writing and by now he was a huge star at MGM. So, why, I ask was he starring in such as lousy film that is ONLY redeemed by his screen presence?! The plot is 100% dumb and seems much more like one of his films from 1931 or 1932. Marion Davies, also, has almost no charisma or spark as his love interest. I've enjoyed her i other films, but her character is just awful in this movie. If I were in Gable's shoes, I wouldn't have fallen for her. Punched her,...maybe. The film is a battle (and this is definitely the focus) between the leads and it's very hard to see them eventually falling for each other. Unbelievable and sloppy.Oddly, while most critics disliked this movie strongly, almost 60% of the scores on IMDb as of this date have given this movie a score of 10!!! While I understand that some might like this movie (after all, everybody is entitled to their opinion), I strongly suspect some person or persons have deliberately flooded IMDb with scores of 10, as by any objective standard, it's not a great film. Even his GREAT films that are in the IMDb TOP 250 (such as GONE WITH THE WIND or IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT) have a MUCH lower percentage of scores of 10 (with less than 40% of the scores being 10 for each). So, don't believe the high score--something fishy is happening here!