Michael_Elliott Forsaking All Others (1934) ** 1/2 (out of 4) MGM fluff has Jeff (Clark Gable) returning from Spain with plans of proposing to Mary (Joan Crawford) but once home he learns that she's about to marry Dillon (Robert Montgomery). Jeff decides to take it like a man and step to the side but when Dillon runs off and marries another woman he must try and figure out the best way to get to Mary. Only thing is that she's not too bright and goes running back to the married Dillon. There's quite a bit of plot in this 84-minutes but none of it is overly original. This isn't a bad movie but considering the cast and director one can't help but be a little disappointed that it's not better. I don't think it's any secret that the main reason to watch this is because of the terrific cast. Gable is in top-form here as he's very believable in the role and you can't help but feel for the guy and enjoy the class that the actor brings. The more I see from Gable pre-IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT films the more impressed I am. Crawford doesn't get any added benefits from the screenplay, which pretty much just writes her as a dumb-chick who makes one dumb move after another but the actress does what she can. She's certainly charming enough in the role. Montgomery isn't too bad as the romantic slime but for some reason the screenplay seems to forget this is a drama when he's on screen. There are countless scenes with him falling, tripping or hurting himself in other ways that gives one the impression that this was some sort of slapstick film at some point. Charles Butterworth steals the film in each of his scenes and we also get Billie Burke as a real bad girl. The opening credits here are extremely bizarre as the film opens with the three stars marching arm to arm down a row towards the camera with the biggest smiles on their face as if this was some sort of musical. I'm not sure what the point of this was but I doubt the studio had much of an idea on what they were wanting to do outside making a lot of cash with the three leads. If you're a fan of the stars then this is a must see but at the same time it's a shame more wasn't done to try and make it better.

calvinnme This is one of the several movies that Joan Crawford made with Clark Gable, and fortunately quite a few of them (maybe all) have made it to at least DVD-R via the Warner Archive. This is one of the best the two did together. It's a romantic comedy in which Joan plays socialite Mary Clay, who is about to marry lifelong acquaintance Dillon Todd (Robert Montgomery). Clark Gable plays another of Mary's lifelong friends, Jeff Williams. Jeff has been long away from home and decides to come back just to ask Mary to marry him, unaware that Mary is about to marry Dillon. When he learns about their upcoming marriage he decides to keep his feelings to himself, although the look he has as if having been punched in the stomach when he hears the news says it all. Robert Montgomery is playing the usual harmless playboy character here that he did so much of in the early 1930's. It looks like Mary and Dillon's marriage is about to go off without a hitch until one of Dillon's old girlfriends appears on the scene.This film was released about six months after the precode era ended, so there is nothing really racey going on here. About the most extreme thing you will see is Robert Montgomery in a dress. However, W.S. Van Dyke is the director of this film, and he knew how to combine sexual tension and comedy in an age of aggressive censorship, and this is a fine example of his work. I highly recommend it to fans of films of the 1930's.

bkoganbing I have to imagine that in order for MGM to justify using two of their top leading men with Joan Crawford, their parts in Forsaking All Others would have to have been built up considerably. The original Broadway production of this comedy that ran 110 performances in 1933 starred Tallulah Bankhead and it was strictly her show. As if it would have been any other way.I have to give Joan Crawford credit on this one. Unlike her later film Susan and God where she tries to imitate Gertrude Lawrence with accent and all, she wisely does not try to do a Tallulah impersonation. She creates her own character here and it's a good one. She's got both Robert Montgomery and Clark Gable after her, but she chooses early on and in the end she finds out she chooses wrong. In fact the only impersonation Crawford does is one of her Grand Hotel co-star Greta Garbo.Both Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery settle into familiar stereotypes for them. Gable is another reporter character like he is It Happened One Night and Montgomery is an irresponsible playboy like he was in a gazillion films. Montgomery and Crawford are set to be married, but Montgomery leaves her at the altar and runs off with his demanding mistress Frances Drake. But Crawford has Gable's shoulder to cry on for most of the rest of the film. By the way, Drake gives a performance that's a case study in canine feminus. She makes Joan Collins in Dynasty look like Maria Von Trapp. Drake dominates in whatever scene she's in. No way that Tallulah Bankhead would have let that happen on stage.Charles Butterworth and Billie Burke are also on hand and young Rosalind Russell on her way up has a small part as one of Crawford's friends. Nothing new in Forsaking All Others, but the ground is familiar enough.

mp99 The sort of old movie that makes old movies seem, well, OLD. The dialogue creaks and heaves towards the punch lines, the plot twists can be seen coming a mile away, and the characters behavior is totally subservient to the need to keep the hero and heroine from recognizing their obvious love for one another until the last possible moment. That Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Robert Montgomery bring something even RESEMBLING emotional truth to this remainder-bin exercise is a tribute to their talent. As for poor Crawford, she has to do this heavy lifting in a closet full of really ugly costumes, full of frills and doo-dads (in one scene, she wears an evening gown covered with what looks like looped extension cords--was the designer smoking dope when they dreamed this one up?). Anyone who says they don't make movies like they used to is right--and that isn't necessarily a bad thing . . .