First of all, I am not a critic. This is just a visceral reaction to the movie.
It starts out as a fun screwball comedy and then gets really deep. Halfway through I was still wondering where this movie was going. And after it got deep, most of the time I had no idea what the characters were talking about. Of course, by the context I knew they were talking about life, death and love, but what they were really trying to say wasn't clear. On one hand, I would think that this movie was quite a surprise to '30s audiences expecting a "Clark Gable movie," but on the other hand, '30s audiences weren't a bunch of innocents. They'd been through a lot of crap, so maybe this movie spoke to them.
On the positive side, is there anything lovelier to look at than Clark Gable? Especially a young (about 37 years old) Gable. It's also fun to see Lionel Barrymore as a nice guy. Whoda thunk it?
It starts out as a fun screwball comedy and then gets really deep. Halfway through I was still wondering where this movie was going. And after it got deep, most of the time I had no idea what the characters were talking about. Of course, by the context I knew they were talking about life, death and love, but what they were really trying to say wasn't clear. On one hand, I would think that this movie was quite a surprise to '30s audiences expecting a "Clark Gable movie," but on the other hand, '30s audiences weren't a bunch of innocents. They'd been through a lot of crap, so maybe this movie spoke to them.
On the positive side, is there anything lovelier to look at than Clark Gable? Especially a young (about 37 years old) Gable. It's also fun to see Lionel Barrymore as a nice guy. Whoda thunk it?