Was The King Tottering On His Throne?
Metro Does Lone Star (1952) In Old-Fashioned Ways
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| Lon Chaney On Stage? --- What Do You Suppose He Did? |
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| Gable Confers with Creative Staff On MGM Backlot |
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| Gable Squares Off with B. Crawford's Stuntman, Gil Perkins |
posted by John McElwee at 8:00 AM
8 Comments:
Herb Jeffries, the Bronze Buckaroo, could sing. But what would Lon Chaney (Jr.) do during a personal appearance?
In 1943, Chaney appeared on stage at one of my home town theatres for a War Bond Rally.
I will watch Gable when I see him on TCM, however whenever he is in a western I tune out. A 19th century cowboy movie character with a pencil thin mustache is ludicrous in the extreme. Gable could not change the brand. However I will watch this film when I can as it has Ava Gardner.
That color photo is remarkable. Ava's been airbrushed down to the basement membrane, but every wrinkle, line and sag is unforgivingly on display on Gable's face. He's 52, but could easily pass for 70. A handsome 70, but 70 nonetheless.
It's always been my understanding that Gable's shakes were due to alcoholism. By then, his contract (supposedly) stated that he ended shooting at 5:00, even if he was in the middle of a scene, because his hands would start shaking. His main rival, Gary Cooper, was said to watch every Gable movie, just to spot it. Perhaps that Parkinson's warning was just a cover.
It was Vincent Sherman's impression that Gable had Parkinson's, based, I assume, on what others at MGM told him. I've always doubted that was the problem, however, and I'm not sure it was the drinking either. Gable did develop a tremor in the 50's, and it is visible in several of his films. I watched for it in "Lone Star," but didn't note anything. Others who are more observant might.
Richard M. Roberts has some thoughts about the postwar Clark Gable:
John,
I'll have to say Vincent Sherman didn;t know what in the hell he was
talking about, there is no way Clark Gable suffered from Parkinsons Disease, it
is a progressively debilitating disease that can be lived with by some for a
long time (with modern medical treatments), but he would still not have been
making movies in the early 60's and looking and acting as well as he did (just
before he died, of course) and been suffering from the disease for that long
with the few drugs they had even then to treat it.
That said, there are
hundreds of other maladys that can cause hand tremors, and they can become
common in older folk as they age. Gable had returned from WW2, and even though
he may have seen light duty, they could have been caused by just flying and
rattling around in too many B17's. Age and fatigue, especially coupled with
drinking, can be a darn good cause as well, and that makes more sense if Gable's
tremors only came on late in the day during a shoot. The Gary Cooper story is
funny, but his health was so damn rocky through most of the 50's, he aged faster
than any of the big time leading men, so I'm sure he had some competitive
concern.
I have always admired Gable as an actor, I just wish he had made
more movies for other studios, too damn much MGM product that feels like
standard MGM product: lame. It also doesn't help when I think GONE WITH THE WIND
is a torture to sit through. I like some of Gable's post-MGM product, but there
is a lot of lame moviemaking there too, though RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP is terrific,
and strangely enough, I like his late comedies like TEACHERS PET and BUT NOT FOR
ME, where at least he turns his post-war gruffness around for laughs. All in all
though, there are very few Gable movies I find as good as he is in them.
Richard --- Yes, I never bought the notion that Gable had Parkinson's. He would indeed have been out of movies in short order if that had been the case. I agree that the war entered into it --- his enlisting was probably not a good idea, considering the fact he had to go through basic training, certainly a young man's ordeal, plus the missions that exposed him to real danger, and to little purpose beyond getting footage for a documentary that got less exposure than its considerable effort justified.
I actually like the postwar Gables because these are the ones (really, the ONLY ones) I had access to growing up. I find his the late ones you mentioned, "Teacher's Pet" and "But Not For Me," to be exceptionally good, two of my favorites of 50's comedies. I only regret that Paramount has not done a fresh HD transfer of "But Not For Me," although "Teacher's Pet" does look wonderful on RetroPlex, and streaming on Vudu and Amazon HD.
J.
Aside from his early 30's classics, I NEVER liked ANY of the CRUDDY 1940's product MGM put out to begin with, and here MAYER had the GREATEST actor on his payroll and yet he NEVER, EVER put GABLE in ONE FILM LENSED IN TECHNICOLOR! Gable did much better after MAYER left, with "MOGOMBO", "BETRAYED", etc. His 2 for 20th century fox were winners in my book; and they WERE BETTER than ALL of that MINDLESS b&w home-studio JUNK they put him in made after "GWTW"(WHICH WASN'T MGM!). His post- MGM period was proof of his box office draw. I only wish that CLARK GABLE could have made a few more westerns. He LOOKED SO GOOD in the saddle in "THE TALL MEN"('55), one wishes there had been a sequel! If "THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS"('56) failed(?), most likely it was because they( w/ director RAOUL WALSH) were both pretty exhausted after "THE TALL MEN" shoot; and WHO ELSE could have playing HANK LEE IN EDWARD DYMTRKS' "SOLDIER OF FORTUNE"('55) with more class than GABLE!? Unlike FLYNN and BOGART who were LOST after leaving WARNER BROS, GABLE SCORED MUCH BETTER here... and left us after making JOHN HUSTONS'CLASSIC,"THE MISFITS"('60).It was tragic he didn't live to see it's release.
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