TV and Movies

[Oznell]

Starting immediately, great way to punctuate "Clark Gable day".

Claudette Colbert is charming and elfin as wealthy heiress on a tear across the country, with reporter Clark Gable on her trail, and then he's her uneasy travel companion (so he can get the story of her madcap rush to marry a bloke her Dad disapproves of.)

Fizzy, fun classic with two magnificent stars!  Sorry I missed giving any lead time, but you'll be lucky if you can watch or DVR...

[OKPrincess]

Thanks for the reminder. 

[kaydee50]

A great movie and one of my all time favorites.  Never get tired of watching it.  As I write this, the classic "hitchhiking" scene is on.  Those 2 worked so well together and Gable should have done more comedies.  They don't make them like this anymore!!!!

[Jamma]

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@Oznell wrote:

Starting immediately, great way to punctuate "Clark Gable day".

Claudette Colbert is charming and elfin as wealthy heiress on a tear across the country, with reporter Clark Gable on her trail, and then he's her uneasy travel companion (so he can get the story of her madcap rush to marry a bloke her Dad disapproves of.)

Fizzy, fun classic with two magnificent stars!  Sorry I missed giving any lead time, but you'll be lucky if you can watch or DVR...

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Saw it at 7:30 while scanning.  Taped it---I love Claudette Colbert.  Knew you would post about it.  Thanks for all you do.

[GingerPeach]

I missed it but I can picture it in my mind.  So easy to do even if someone has only seen it once (and I've seen it several times).  That hitchhiking scene - that bedroom scene with the room divider - I think those were the first of their kind.  Do you know, @Oznell?  

[Oznell]

Interesting question, @GingerPeach- I don't know if they were the first of their kind.  But given the major impact of the film on the public at the time, I wouldn't doubt it. Everyone found the movie so fresh and beguiling.  That partly was director Frank Capra's magic.

There's the well-worn story that men's undershirt sales plummeted after Gable was depicted undressing and he wasn't wearing one!

Seeing it recently, the scene that grabbed me was the scene on the bus where some guys were noodling around playing music, and someone requested "The Man on the Flying Trapeze".  It was rollicking and contagious, and the passengers got caught up in it, lustily singing along.  The look of glee on Gable's face as he joined in-- that was so real.

It made me think of how Depression audiences must have responded to this gossamer fantasy-- the hope, and the sort of universal reassurance of a scene like that.... the simple humanity of it.   People were looking for a way out of the economic despair around them, and I think scenes like that, and of course, the delectable screwball comedies Hollywood was starting to confect, must have helped...

[Annabellethecat66]

@Oznell Ahhhhh!!!  This movie I know about.  Growing up my best friend was older than me, but she was immature and I maybe a little more mature (the point, we hung out together and liked similar stuff).  

Anyway, we wrote love/admiration letters to our favorite TV/Movie stars.  My absolute favorite was James Garner.  I'd write the letters and in a few weeks (this was in the late 50's, early 60's) I'd get an 8X10 black and white signed picture of ....you guessed it...James Garner (later, as Maverick).

My friend totally and only worshiped Clark Gable.  I sat through that movie with her.  She was swooning (there's a word you don't see much) over him.  She also had lots of pictures of Clark Gable.  He was very famous back then.  

Did you know he married later in life (she wasn't beautiful) but it was a good marriage and they had a son.

John Clark Gable,

Hope I didn't mess up your post, but I thought it was interesting.  

You take care sweet Oznell.  You are wonderful.  Fondly, Annabelle/Linda

[GingerPeach]

My kind of stories, @Oznell, ones with hope.  We need more of those today.

Thanks for bringing up the undershirt story, too.  I do remember hearing or reading about that.

I find it endlessly fascinating the effect movies have on us.  Or maybe it's us having the effect on movies?  Whatever it is, a good movie tells a good story, and ever so much the better with intelligent dialogue, humor, and, for good measure, lovely costumes and scenery!  

[TexasMom1]

I have watched this movie so many times, I think I could be an understudy with the dialogue prompting! One of my favorite scenes is when Clark Gable shows up to collect the "reward" and only wants chump change and tells Claudette's father he loves her, and that anybody taking care of his daughter would have to be crazy, and he is! LOL!

Such a great movie and such a poignant take on the times in the Depression era when many people did not have much, like the little boy on the train with his mother. 

[bikerbabe]

I don’t think Frank Capra ever made a bad movie.