"Chained" was a very basic, run-of-the-mill romance. I think they thought that they could get away with such blandness just because Gable and Crawford starred in it.
Joan Crawford played Diane Lovering, a woman dating her boss, Richard Field (Otto Kruger), a married man. He wanted to marry her, and he would if his wife would grant him a divorce. When his wife flatly refused to grant him a divorce he told Diane that he was sorry it was over. Diane said that it didn't have to be. In other words: she would go on being his mistress.
Richard was a smart man. I guess him being older made all the difference. He told her not to make the decision right then, but to go away for a while to think, then come back with a decision.
The script just wrote itself from then on. I already guessed what was going to happen and sometimes I hate when I'm right.
My guess: she'd travel, fall in love despite her best efforts not to, become emotionally conflicted, then decide on the new love.
Just like all movies when a woman goes somewhere alone or is left alone by her significant other, Diane was swept off her feet by another man (for reference see "Man of the World" (1931), "Transgression" (1931), "It Happened One Night" (1934) and many others). How quickly the woman will fall in love with a new man all depends on how long she will be alone. If it's a day, she'll fall in love in hours; if it's a month, it'll take her days, etc.
Diane fell in love with Michael Bradley (Clark Gable).
Naturally.
He put on a full court press. He didn't go for mushy romance, he went for the fun angle ala Leonardo Di Caprio in "Titanic" or most poor men when they want to sweep a woman off her feet. You see, wealthy men go for wining, dining, and sweet words while working class men go for showing a woman how to have fun and how to really laugh.
As could be predicted, Diane was emotionally conflicted, but being with Mike felt right. Now she only needed to tell Richard. She decided that she'd go back to New York to tell him face to face.
Here is where I was able to correctly predict things again.
I figured that Richard had to be divorced by the time Diane got back because that would create a true quandary. If Richard was still married, Diane could leave him and feel OK about it. If Richard was divorced and free to marry Diane, well then she'd have an issue.
As I predicted, Richard was divorced. Diane was still going to break the news to him that she found someone else, but he wouldn't let her. He simply wouldn't let her speak and she ended up marrying him out of some sense of duty. We all know that anything done out of a sense of duty will not yield happiness like doing something out of love.
My next prediction was that she'd get a divorce and run away with Mike.
I was right, but it didn't go down the way I expected.
Mike came to New York and just so happened to run into Diane (wink wink). Mike was still single and in love a year later. Just seeing Mike brought all of Diane's suppressed feelings to the surface, but what was she to do?
She and Richard were scheduled to take a trip in the next day or two. Diane asked Richard if they could take their trip even earlier. It was the universal 1930's female signal for "I don't trust myself so let's get out of here" (for reference see "A Lost Lady" (1934), "He Was Her Man" (1934), "The Key" (1934) and others). If a woman says, "Please take me with you," or "Let's get away now," or "Please don't go," they all mean the same thing: there's a man lurking that I have feelings for and if I stay here any longer I will give in to those feelings.
I thought that Richard was going to do what every other husband or sweetheart has done--tell her that plans can't be changed--but he fooled me. I think he sensed what I sensed so he said "Sure, let's leave at dawn."
Well, dawn didn't come quick enough because Mike paid them both a visit before they could leave. He told Diane he was going to have it out with Richard for her. "The matter doesn't concern you," he told Diane like many men used to say back then. It was funny to see two men arguing or fighting over a woman and totally ignoring her wishes at the same time. But, just like every case, she remains a silent partner in her own affair.
Mike and Richard never got around to discussing Diane. Richard knew why Mike was there and he made every effort to avoid the discussion. He poured on the nice and courteous routine so thick that Mike would've felt like a heel if he broached the topic of stealing his wife. So, Mike decided to leave without saying a word.
After Mike was gone, Richard told Diane that he knew all about Mike. He knew that she had found someone when she came back by the way she was acting, but he dared not give her the opportunity to mention it. He was too afraid to hear the truth so he bumrushed her with a proposal and everything else at his disposal to make her forget about Mike and remember the thing they had. It worked, but he only had half a wife and he knew it. The other half belonged to Mike, hence Richard let her go.
How Diane eventually got back to Mike was a little more circuitous than I'd expected, but I definitely expected her to live happily ever after with Mike. So, even though they added a tiny wrinkle, this was still a standard 1930's romance.
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Joan Crawford played Diane Lovering, a woman dating her boss, Richard Field (Otto Kruger), a married man. He wanted to marry her, and he would if his wife would grant him a divorce. When his wife flatly refused to grant him a divorce he told Diane that he was sorry it was over. Diane said that it didn't have to be. In other words: she would go on being his mistress.
Richard was a smart man. I guess him being older made all the difference. He told her not to make the decision right then, but to go away for a while to think, then come back with a decision.
The script just wrote itself from then on. I already guessed what was going to happen and sometimes I hate when I'm right.
My guess: she'd travel, fall in love despite her best efforts not to, become emotionally conflicted, then decide on the new love.
Just like all movies when a woman goes somewhere alone or is left alone by her significant other, Diane was swept off her feet by another man (for reference see "Man of the World" (1931), "Transgression" (1931), "It Happened One Night" (1934) and many others). How quickly the woman will fall in love with a new man all depends on how long she will be alone. If it's a day, she'll fall in love in hours; if it's a month, it'll take her days, etc.
Diane fell in love with Michael Bradley (Clark Gable).
Naturally.
He put on a full court press. He didn't go for mushy romance, he went for the fun angle ala Leonardo Di Caprio in "Titanic" or most poor men when they want to sweep a woman off her feet. You see, wealthy men go for wining, dining, and sweet words while working class men go for showing a woman how to have fun and how to really laugh.
As could be predicted, Diane was emotionally conflicted, but being with Mike felt right. Now she only needed to tell Richard. She decided that she'd go back to New York to tell him face to face.
Here is where I was able to correctly predict things again.
I figured that Richard had to be divorced by the time Diane got back because that would create a true quandary. If Richard was still married, Diane could leave him and feel OK about it. If Richard was divorced and free to marry Diane, well then she'd have an issue.
As I predicted, Richard was divorced. Diane was still going to break the news to him that she found someone else, but he wouldn't let her. He simply wouldn't let her speak and she ended up marrying him out of some sense of duty. We all know that anything done out of a sense of duty will not yield happiness like doing something out of love.
My next prediction was that she'd get a divorce and run away with Mike.
I was right, but it didn't go down the way I expected.
Mike came to New York and just so happened to run into Diane (wink wink). Mike was still single and in love a year later. Just seeing Mike brought all of Diane's suppressed feelings to the surface, but what was she to do?
She and Richard were scheduled to take a trip in the next day or two. Diane asked Richard if they could take their trip even earlier. It was the universal 1930's female signal for "I don't trust myself so let's get out of here" (for reference see "A Lost Lady" (1934), "He Was Her Man" (1934), "The Key" (1934) and others). If a woman says, "Please take me with you," or "Let's get away now," or "Please don't go," they all mean the same thing: there's a man lurking that I have feelings for and if I stay here any longer I will give in to those feelings.
I thought that Richard was going to do what every other husband or sweetheart has done--tell her that plans can't be changed--but he fooled me. I think he sensed what I sensed so he said "Sure, let's leave at dawn."
Well, dawn didn't come quick enough because Mike paid them both a visit before they could leave. He told Diane he was going to have it out with Richard for her. "The matter doesn't concern you," he told Diane like many men used to say back then. It was funny to see two men arguing or fighting over a woman and totally ignoring her wishes at the same time. But, just like every case, she remains a silent partner in her own affair.
Mike and Richard never got around to discussing Diane. Richard knew why Mike was there and he made every effort to avoid the discussion. He poured on the nice and courteous routine so thick that Mike would've felt like a heel if he broached the topic of stealing his wife. So, Mike decided to leave without saying a word.
After Mike was gone, Richard told Diane that he knew all about Mike. He knew that she had found someone when she came back by the way she was acting, but he dared not give her the opportunity to mention it. He was too afraid to hear the truth so he bumrushed her with a proposal and everything else at his disposal to make her forget about Mike and remember the thing they had. It worked, but he only had half a wife and he knew it. The other half belonged to Mike, hence Richard let her go.
How Diane eventually got back to Mike was a little more circuitous than I'd expected, but I definitely expected her to live happily ever after with Mike. So, even though they added a tiny wrinkle, this was still a standard 1930's romance.
Free on Odnoklassniki.