drednm
Clark Gable stars as owner of a legal, small-town gambling house but his heart condition is about to make him quit. It's then he realizes that he's alienated his wife (Alexis Smith), who has retreated to a "memory room," and his son (Darryl Hickman) who is ashamed of how he has become rich.He's also got a sneaky brother-in-law (Wendell Corey) who is married to his wife's sister (Audrey Totter). But he also has loyal employees (Barry Sullivan, Edgar Buchanan, Caleb Peterson), and some women who are quite fond of him (Mary Astor, Marjorie Rambeau).Stealing the film are two longtime MGM players. Franks Morgan plays the gambler who may break the bank, and Lewis Stone plays the has-been who's about to play his last hand. Each is excellent.Others include his doctor (Leon Ames), a couple of thugs (William Conrad, Richard Rober), and dejected woman gambler (Dorothy Comingore), and Art Baker as the nightclub owner.Scotty Beckett was originally signed to play the son and his picture is on Gable's desk, but he was replaced by Hickman.Frank Morgan and Lewis Stone turn in terrific performances, and this ranks as one of Clark Gable's best post-war performances.
danielj_old999
One of the great opening scenes of any Hollywood movie projects a kind of cinematic/theatrical authority in a league with O'Neill or Odets, first we see the black man, filled with jolly self denial, buffing the crap tables, his tragedy is implicit from the first moment, believing in his heart that he is on a social par with the other white employees... and with quick, methodical grace the other supporting characters are sharply introduced - they're waiting for lefty, or godot,or the Iceman, or their savior,who happens to be Gable in one of his greatest roles...this is the refined essence of that great personality on screen...the man could simply manufacture chemistry not only with his leading ladies but with other men as well...too bad the crisp, exciting climax at the crap table does not quite live up to this glorious existential opening but it's still an eminently enjoyable Hollywood wrap up..one of the most underrated MGM movies.
MartinHafer
I like that Clark Gable plays the logical extension of the characters he so often played in the 1930s and 40s. So often he played the likable rogue who made his living just skirting the border between good and evil--playing gamblers, mercenaries or con-men. However, in each film you almost never see what this same character would have been like had the film followed him into mid-life. Well, ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY is such a film. Gable plays an older rogue who owns a gambling house but also has a wife and older son. And, instead of being firmly in control of his life, you can see it slowly crumbling--at least around the edges. This role took some guts to play as he was more vulnerable and Gable COULD have just continued playing "fluff roles". Give it a try and see an adult drama.
Greg Couture
This is one of the prolific Mervyn LeRoy's less-distinguished directorial efforts, in my opinion. The story seems cobbled together, everything takes place indoors or at night on studio streets (sometimes rainswept), and none of the actors, including the leads, seem entirely comfortable in their roles. Possibly because of his wartime experiences, Clark Gable returned to the screen, after the end of World War II, looking quite a bit older than his chronological age and he doesn't appear to be well-matched here with the elegant, twenty years younger Alexis Smith, on loan from her home studio, Warner Brothers.Ms. Smith was not very well-served by the M-G-M artisans assigned to this film. She looks rather grim and is not nearly as flatteringly photographed as was the case in her Warner Brothers films. (On a recent Turner Classic Movies broadcast, host Robert Osborne commented that Alexis was not happy working at M-G-M and was anxious to return to the "less pretentious" atmosphere of her home at Warner Brothers. She may have looked at the rushes for this one and decided that she'd been given short shrift at Hollywood's preeminent glamour factory.)The story revolves around a gambling house whose boss is a hard-edged guy (not anything that Gable couldn't make sympathetic) whose family and employees, as well as his patrons, all seem to be not always on his team. A showdown in the final reel attempts to make everything right, of course, but I listened to the swell of the end title's music without much of a feeling of satisfaction.
AD
