Marion Davies and Clark Gable work very well together. Along with an all-star cast, CAIN AND MABEL is fast moving wise-cracking fun! The musical numbers are outrageous in presentation, especially the "I'll Sing You A Thousand Love Songs" number, which required building the largest soundstage in Hollywood (Burbank actually), Stage #7 on the Warner lot. It's not GONE WITH THE WIND, but it doesn't try to be; it's just fun.
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MDfan19 January 1999
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beyondtheforest4 January 2007In what would be her second to last film, Marion Davies stars as a waitress who lands a job as a lead dancer in an expensive Broadway show. The only problem is she is not an established star and cannot draw many people to see the show. Her managers concoct a plan to keep her name in the papers by linking her romantically with a famous prize fighter, thereby creating publicity for the show, but unfortunately they can't stand each other. However, when the fighter (Clark Gable) learns she is really down to earth, and was once a waitress, his opinion of her changes and they decide to be married (quite abruptly). The publicity people keep getting in the way and end up turning them against each other for the sake of publicity, until in the end both decide to throw their big careers in the bucket and get married.
The plot is sort of silly, but not entirely phony. I sort of like the idea of presenting two famous, successful people who both willingly give up their careers for love (and not just the woman giving up her career). It was a novel approach. It a rare example of equality between the sexes for its time.
The publicity angle is also good. Here we have two people torn apart and brought back together by media lies. It happened then, and is still relevant today, when "don't believe everything you read" is as true as ever.
Ultimately, the movie is not completely successful, although it satisfies to an extent. The casting of Marion Davies, who was by all means a huge star of the day, in a leading role of this nature seems all wrong. Her strong points are her charm and comedic abilities, neither of which is shown much to her advantage in CAIN AND MABEL. She is pretty and likable throughout, but she is never an authentic film presence, nor does she display any genuine or deep emotion. It is all surface, but the surface is where she excels, and she would have shone in any number of supporting roles as a character actress, or in a stronger comedy as a lead. Here, she is not given much to do besides pose, whimper, and smile, which she does charmingly but not convincingly. She might have fared better if given more to do.
Her role, and the film in general, was reminiscent of DANCING LADY, another story of a showgirl who makes it big and has man trouble. Where that film was perhaps more formulaic in its conclusion, it was also twice as convincing, perhaps because the lead was played by the dynamic Joan Crawford. This is not to say Davies is a lesser actress than Crawford, but each had their strengths, and this type of role was more suited to the emotionally available Crawford.
The whole film feels somewhat dated, as if it was filmed in 1932, not 1936. The story you have seen before, and in superior films. Both the lead actors have given better performances. Gable's performance was adequate and likable, but it felt like one of his earlier performances, and not a performance drawing from his experience. It's hard to believe, while watching the film that it is a product of so much talent, or of movie stars at the height of their careers. With so much going into it, not limited to an expensive budget rivaling any number of Shearer or Garbo films, but also fantastic musical numbers, how could the result be so utterly underwhelming?
The film should have been a comeback for Davies. It should have been a very modern vehicle to showcase Gable at the top of his game, and reintroduce Davies as a formidable rival to the other screen queens of the era. Instead, we end up wondering what Clark Gable is doing in a Marion Davies movie, and by then Davies' image was dated and she would have benefited more by starring in a Clark Gable film.
CAIN AND MABEL could have been an important, ground-breaking film starring two great stars. Instead it is an empty vanity project, in which Gable is used for window dressing, Davies is not allowed to exercise any of her talents, and the plot was a formulaic re-hash of something from five years earlier (done better the first time).
It is a curiosity piece, though, and a must for fans of the stars, or for people who enjoy pleasant entertainment which demands little from the viewer. -
richard-17877 February 2017This isn't a great movie. It's a passable comedy, with some clever dialogue.
The real interest is Marion Davies. She is remembered, inaccurately, as the inspiration and model for Susan Alexander in *Citizen Kane*, which was evidently not altogether the case. (Yes, Kane was certainly based on William Randolph Hurst, Davies' financial backer and lover, but Susan A. was evidently based on several women in her situation in the 1930s, including at least one actual would-be opera singer.) As a result, it is assumed that she had no talent.
As this movie shows, that wasn't the case. No, she was not a Judy Garland, or a Jean Harlow, or a Ginger Rogers, or a Jeannette MacDonald. But she sang and danced quite decently, and she did a good job with light comedy. (She was evidently in over her head when Hurst put her in historical dramas.) Gable is definitely the best thing in this picture, and does a great job creating the all-man prizefighter, but Davies holds her own.
As do several of the supporting comedians, especially Walter Catlett and Roscoe Karns.
As I said, not a great movie, but a pleasant comedy, and one that makes a case for Davies.
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I watched this again tonight. One thing that struck me about it this time was that, in the very large musical number in the second half of the movie, which just goes on and on and on - it's supposed to be part of the musical Mabel O'Dare is appearing in - Davies is given almost nothing to do. She just stands on top of the elaborate stage set in an elaborate costume and smiles. I kept thinking: if this were a musical with any other musical star, they would have had her doing a lot more dancing, and probably some singing. -
drednm19 January 2007Marion Davies and Clark Gable star together in a second film (they had co-starred in POLLY OF THE CIRCUS) as a Broadway star and a prize fighter who get tricked into a phony publicity romance to increase their box office draw.
Lots of snappy lines here as the two stars go through their paces, accompanied by a solid supporting cast. Davies gets doused with a bucket of water. She gets even, dousing Gable with water in a hallway. They trade insults
Davies gets to star is two lavish production numbers. The "Coney Island" romp is fun with Davies singing and dancing with Sammy White. The "Thousand Love Songs" number is built on a huge stage (biggest ever, the roof was raised 35 ft to accommodate the massive sets) and includes a human pipe organ, a Venetian canal, and even a white wedding, with Davies as the centerpiece in all of them. Davies cracked a rib during a dance number. Too bad the dance double is badly done. Still a lot of fun all round.
Ruth Donnelly, William Collier, Allen Jenkins, Pert Kelton, Robert Paige (billed as David Carlyle), Hobart Cavanaugh, Marie Prevost, E.E. Clive, Walter Catlett, and Roscoe Karns co-star. Sammy White is terrific in the "Coney Island" number, following up a great turn in SHOW BOAT with Irene Dunne. Jane Wyman is one of the chorus girls.
Davies would make only one more film after CAIN AND MABEL. -
psteier3 April 2001The picture seems to be put together from a lot of other pictures (musicals, boxing, backstage on Broadway, romance), but the pieces are of little interest in themselves and don't fit well together.
To me, the many quick jokes are the best part of the picture. Also good are a dance number (in which Marion Davies is clearly outmatched), Roscoe Karns as a PR man, and Allen Jenkins as Clark Gable's boxing trainer. -
AlsExGal27 November 2009I really loved Marion Davies in her silent films, but I've never liked her talking pictures that much as a whole. In this case, the plot is plucked from about a half dozen other 30's films that came before it, but the film does have Clark Gable going for it as well as those terrific contract Warner Brothers players.
The premise is rather unbelievable. Waitress Mabel O'Dare is fired from her job for feeding a hungry unemployed publicist. He decides to help Mabel out by getting her a job in a Broadway show. The leading man pretends to be the show's producer as a gag, and tells Mabel she has the lead without even auditioning her. Unbelievable point number one - Mabel believes him. Unbelievable point number two - when she shows up and finds out she has no job, not even a spot in the chorus, the leading man and the producer feel so bad for her they do give her the lead, even though she's never danced or sung professionally before.
All of this I could live with, but then you have prizefighter Larry Cain (Clark Gable) and Mabel hating each other throughout two-thirds of the film for a multitude of mutual insults and injuries to one another. However, a single home-cooked pork chop by Mabel and her revelation to Larry that she used to be a waitress has him proposing inside of ten minutes? This is too much to swallow even for one of the screwball comedies of the thirties.
Finally there is the most tiresome part of the film, and that is the musical portion. There are two numbers that try to copy Busby Berkeley to some extent, but dance director Bobby Connelly doesn't seem to understand that you can't top Berkeley simply by building a taller set and a larger crane. Your numbers have to have some substance. The whole thing is haunted by the ghosts of the largely failed musical films of the late 20's and very early 30's with tableaux and spectacles that are just plain boring.
I'd say it's almost a toss of a coin as to whether or not this one is worth your time. I gave it a 6/10 mainly because I'm such a sucker for those Warner Brothers films of the 1930s. -
atlasmb20 July 2021Clark Gable and Marion Davies star in this romantic comedy that is like a time capsule from the thirties, filled with scads of depression era words and phrases.
Davies plays hoofer Mabel O'Dare, who gets her big break due to a misunderstanding. Gable plays boxer Larry Cain, who makes it to the heavyweight title. Because their careers are bringing in only so-so box office, PR guy Reilly (Roscoe Karns) cooks up a scheme to gain them more press: pretend they are an item. You can probably predict the rest of the plot, though you might not anticipate that the unlikely pair will bond over a pork chop.
This film is filled with one-liners. It also features some impressive stage productions that might have you looking for Busby Berkeley's name in the credits (it's not there). As for the singing and dancing, they hold up, especially when compared with the standards of the day.
Davies might not be Loy or Rogers or Harlow, but she does a creditable job, so the sponsorship of W. R. Hearst might not have been necessary for her to pull down this part.
Overall, this is an enjoyable film. -
Cain and Mabel (1936)
Clark Gable is great in most of his movies and this is almost no exception—and I couldn't wait for him to appear. The corny style and silly humor that gets the film going is so dated and painful I almost gave up. But I stuck to it, and I tried to get used to Marion Davies. In short, this is an "old-fashioned" kind of musical compared to the "new" style propelled by Astaire and Rogers at the same time.
The plot is great in the outline: a woman loses her waitressing job and a boxer is trying to get the attention of the world. They meet, and the sparks don't fly. But the pressures around them keep trying to get the two to ignite. Davies is "promoted" by a PR hack played by character actor Roscoe Karns, who is somewhere between funny and annoying. His exaggerated humor leaves nothing to the imagination, nowhere for the viewer to escape if it doesn't click.
Gable's PR handlers are more generic, but equally formulaic.
What makes things sometimes work is the interaction between the leads. While not billed as a screwball comedy, the elements are lined up here, especially the two leads at unbelievable odds and yet, somehow, you know they'll hook up. And there is the two- pronged plot element of wanting these two nice enough people to succeed—Davies as a dancer and Gable as a fighter.
The premise is that the careers of both will soar if they fall in love in the public eye. Well, they do, and then what?
Frankly, the singing styles and even the basic choreography is so simple and based in 1920s musicals (which I can't tolerate) and on Busby Berkely films from earlier in the decade, this movie was no fun to watch. If you like other musicals as much as I do (I'll watch Astaire and Rogers any day of the week), you might still have trouble with the acting styles, and the pushy jokes. Further, the basic premise of the two falling in love is stretched beyond the limit. The chemistry is just missing.
The man behind all these style decisions is the director, Lloyd Bacon, whose movies (in my experience) tend toward caricature and a handling of stories that seems almost like it's taken from teen novels. ("Oklahoma Kid" is the poster child for this.) He was often surrounded by great talent, and of course he has Gable here, as well as the great cinematographer, George Barnes.
So be warned. The high rating is a complete mystery. It's not that kind of classic. -
wetcircuit1 February 2007Since Clark Gable became famous for punching women in films (notably Barbara Stanwyck in Night Nurse), it is worthy to note that Marion Davies gives HIM the black eye! Cain and Mabel has a cute premise: a boxer and an actress get together for the sake of publicity but secretly despise each other! Unfortunately there isn't much spark here. Davies is serviceable in the reluctant golddigger role with platinum hair and impossibly blue eyes that seem to have no iris at all, but she doesn't seem particularly committed. Gable also phones it in as a one-note brute -- almost a parody of his many other roles. The subplot that they'd both rather stay home and eat pork chops than act out their romance for the audiences, seems a little too real. This is one of those films that pairs up two huge stars in a mediocre script, hoping sparks will fly with arguments and overturned ice buckets, but mostly it fizzles.
The one stunning exception comes in the third reel when Davies performs in the finale of her Broadway show. It is a jaw-dropping tableau of romantic imagery in huge puffy sleeves and fluffy white feathers. From Louis XVI wigs, to Venice canals, to flying angels, to a choir arranged to look like a pipe organ. Curving staircases, ornate bridges, miles of drapery, and a princess double-cone hat with cascading tulle..., and it just keeps coming. Thematically it steals -- I mean, pays homage to half-a-dozen depression era musicals like "Shall We Dance", and even borrows the violin song from "Gold Diggers of 1933". At the center of it all Davies struggles to keep a relaxed smile, like a bride statuette on a wedding cake so ornately decorated with white icing there is no room left for the groom!
Without this scene I would have only given the movie a 4, but this sequence is EVERYTHING YOU WATCH SILVER-AGE MUSICALS FOR! I have to bump it up to an 8 as a "must see" in musical history. -
Two Hollywood icons of the '30s play up and coming stars, in the form of a stage musical dancer and singer(Marion Davies), or a heavyweight boxing champion(Clark Gable). They are ably supported by Roscoe Karns. as Reilly, and Allen Jenkins, as their respective managers, who try to forge an initially bogus romance between them, as a publicity stunt. Mostly at odds with each other, they finally connect toward the end, although their bliss is interrupted by yet another newspaper article about them that neither likes, and thy blame each other for submitting it, when the real perpetrator is Reilly..........The drama and comedy is interrupted several times by musical productions. The most interesting to me is the "Coney Island" number, in which specialist singer Sammy White is the male singer, with Mariam sometimes chiming in. They wander among some of the Coney Island attractions. Then, there is the longer 'grand production', in which a number of songs are included, again , with Miriam often included in the center. All the new or recent songs were composed by the noted team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin..........Reilly accidentally becomes connected with Mabel(Marian) when, as an unemployed reporter, he is having breakfast in a restaurant, where she is his waitress. A little incident gets her fired , and he takes it upon himself to try to find her another kind of job. He thinks maybe a dancer or showgirl singer. He pretends he knows a producer by the name of Jake Sherman.They are outside his office, when a man emerges. Reilly assumes it's Sherman, and talks to him on this assumption. The man, hesitant at first, goes along with the misidentification, and tells them to be at rehearsal the next day. There, they inquire to a man if they can see Mr. Sherman. The man claims he's Sherman(Walter Catlett), and for several minutes they argue back and forth. Finally, the man they thought was Sherman identifies himself as Ronny Caldwell(Robert Paige) : Sherman's director. Just then, his lead dancer quits. To the shock of everyone, Sherman names Mabel the new lead dancer/singer. To become adequate, she must practice overtime at the apartment where she stays. But, this creates noise for the man below her: Larry Cain(Gable): a boxer, with a fight scheduled for the next day. He comes up twice to complain, but doesn't get much sympathy. The next day, he seems sleepy in the ring, and gives a lack luster performance. Reilly gets the idea to publish a piece on their supposed whirlwind romance. Neither likes the story. Later, they come to regard each other as a possible romantic partner, with occasional backslides: most notably, another news article by Reilly about them, which each assumes the other wrote, causing bad blood again. Shortly before Cain's title fight, Mabel learns that Reilly wrote that piece, so she hurries to tell Cain, so that they can make up. When she arrives, Cain is in the ring, doing better than his opponent. But, when Mabel comes running to tell him the news, he is distracted long enough to allow his opponent to knock him down. Soon, the fight is over, Cain having lost. But Mabel tries to console him with the news that she had bet all her money on his opponent winning! Nonetheless, we leave them apparently happy with each other.
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SimonJack29 April 2016This is one of the very few Clark Gable movies that I score below six stars. But I must do so with "Cain and Mabel" because it barely makes it as entertainment. Even then, my five stars are for a few specific points. First, this is an early look at Gable sans mustache, and he is good in a lousy role. Second, the extravagant staged musical production - seemingly inserted from another film, is quite good by itself, and I do find most things about musicals very entertaining. Third, it has a very fine supporting cast who do very well with what they have in their roles. Allen Jenkins is Dodo, Walter Catlett is Jake Sherman, Ruth Donnelly is Aunt Mimi, William Collier Sr. Is Pop Walters, and Roscoe Karns is Reilly.
I like Marion Davies as an actress. She definitely had the looks and a special appeal in her big broad-eyed face. Had Davies not been in a 30-year affair with the married William Randolph Hearst, or had he not pushed so hard on Hollywood to give her fame, she may well have had a much better career. She may have had some better films than she made. Other reviewers have made this point. I like her in some, but in most of her films she is mediocre at best. And, I agree that while she can act, she is not a great actress and was often cast over her head.
Among many different people there likely will be many different tastes. For that reason, I don't like to take exception to other reviewers directly. But I find it hard to fathom an average rating of 8.0 for "Cain and Mabel" as of the end of April 2016. Especially with more than 1,200 votes cast. Could it be that the ghost of William Randolph Hearst is haunting viewers and pushing the numbers?
Here are some specific points on the downside of this film. The idea of the plot is hokey, but OK if it works. But it doesn't. The story squirms all over the place and the screenplay is terrible. It does have a few funny lines interspersed here and there. But it is not at all a witty script. There is absolutely no chemistry between Davies and Gable, and when they come together toward the end, it just seems phony. Gable's character, Larry Cain, hardly seems to be a heavyweight contender because he doesn't have energy. Only toward the end with some ring shots do we ever get an idea that he really might be a boxer.
Marion Davies wasn't a singer, although I thought I heard her utter a couple of short lines as though she were singing here. They were off key. Her dancing looked amateurish in the beginning, and we saw very little of it. Surely, the producers don't want us to believe that the short routine she was constantly having to practice passes as dancing in this movie. Her brief moments in the big production number are barely passable.
So, where is the singer/dancer leading lady that she was supposed to be playing - Mabel O'Dare? In that long musical section we simply see Marion in three or four different gowns standing and smiling, while different male tenors sing songs, and choruses chime in and ensembles of dancers perform below and around her. So where is the Marion Davies/Mabel O'Dare star? Is that the limit of her talent? Is that what the movie would have us believe people on Broadway would pay to go see? A big name star who doesn't sing or dance (well, once) but stands around as eye candy while the whole rest of the troop perform?
This was a hard movie to sit through, even with my refrigerator breaks at home. The script just seemed so forced, the occasional snappy lines just seemed like snapping at people. And nary a spark between the two leads, let alone a fire. I can't recommend this film as one people are likely to enjoy.
Here are the best samples of funny dialog in this film. Jake, "I'll tell you frankly, the ushers are quitting because they're afraid to be alone in the dark." Pop Walters, "Now listen, Larry. This guy Reed's got a good night's sleep in both hands."
There were many very good comedy-romance musicals made during this period and into the 1940s. The lead actresses sang, danced or did both. I can recommend any films with Jeanette MacDonald (singing), Eleanor Powell (dancing), Judy Garland (singing and dancing), Doris Day (singing and dancing), Deanna Durbin (singing), Jane Powell (singing and dancing). While their films all are well rated, none of them have averages as high as 8.0. -
PWNYCNY25 January 2015This movie is hilarious. It is also an excellent musical. Thus, the movie gives you laughs and song; can't go wrong with that combination. There is chemistry between Clark Gable and Marion Davies, who play the title characters. Gable's comedic ability is once again evident. He was a great comic actor. As for Marion Davies, no could have done her role better. The story is amusing; Roscoe Karns again shows that when he came to comic roles, he was among the best. The story itself is amusing and endearing. Every character is likable. The movie depicts working class people in a positive, upbeat way. The entire supporting cast is excellent, especially Allen Jenkins. As entertainment, this movie delivers. The movie gives you laughs, music, a wonderful plot, and characters to whom the audience can relate. If that isn't enough, then maybe watching movies isn't for you.
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SnoopyStyle13 July 2021Overworked waitress Mabel O'Dare (Marion Davies) gets fired and gets befriended by PR agent Reilly. He starts promoting her as an upcoming starlet. Through unlikely circumstances, she gets the lead in a new Broadway production. She's learning the dance in a hotel room directly above Larry Cain (Clark Gable). He's a boxer who needs rest before his big fight. His challenge against the champ goes badly after the restless night. It's a long ride back up but he has no fan interest. Reilly comes up with a fake romance to spice up both Mabel and Larry's careers.
Well, the initial meeting has plenty of angry heat. It's not a meet-cute as much as it's a meet-beef. It's still usable. They don't have good chemistry but at least, it has some energy. While Clark Gable is a cinematic legend, I've never heard of Marion Davies. She's not a conventional beauty. She's more a broad, a loudmouth, or a mean matron. Apparently, she was a silent era star who transitioned with the early talkies. Her biggest role is probably as the real-life starlet girlfriend of William Randolph Hearst. So she has an indirect connection to cinematic greatness. This movie needs a better romance between Gable and Davies. While they don't have the chemistry, the movie is able to drive on their energy. -
bkoganbing3 January 2007Louis B. Mayer got some good currency lending his number one star Clark Gable out to Columbia for It Happened One Night, to 20th Century Fox for Call of the Wild and now to Warner Brothers for Cain and Mabel. Sad to say though this one doesn't measure up to the other two.
It's a musical and musicals back in the day had some truly ridiculous plots, but this one kind of defied belief. Davies is a waitress who becomes a Broadway musical star, but after a while she yearns for the simple life. Gable as he describes himself is just a gas jockey with a good punch who becomes heavyweight champion.
They get thrown together for publicity's sake due to press agent Roscoe Karns. But of course they get serious for real as it always goes in these films.
For myself I could not swallow that these two people just want to get back to their former nonentity existences. I think that would have been a bit much for Thirties theater audiences as well.
Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote two songs for the film, I'll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs and Coney Island, both of which get a semi Busby Berkeley treatment by dance director Bobby Connolly. My guess is that Berkeley probably passed on Cain and Mabel himself.
Look for good performances from Walter Catlett as the Broadway producer and the aforementioned Roscoe Karns. Robert Paige is in this also under the name David Carlyle and he takes care of the vocal department as Davies leading man and a pretty sappy one at that. Then again he's supposed to not get her.
Davies was very good as a light comedienne, but this material is too much for her. -
westegg26 January 2005I have to respectfully disagree with the reviewer regarding his take that Marion Davies showed no discernible talent for comedy! Doing comedy was the prime talent that she excelled in. Even if this movie was not particularly memorable, Davies does quite well, particularly in the number with Sammy White--if anything, she's at her whimsical best. Marion Davies has always been underrated in her films, often by those who have not seen enough of her performances. Among those usually seen on TCM are Going' HOLLYWOOD(1933) and PEG O'MY HEART (1932), both pretty decent showcases for her. Her best features are more elusive, those produced during the silent era. Of these, one of the more available is SHOW PEOPLE (1928), one of her most highly regarded films. Her natural flair for comedy is in full force, and should put to rest any doubts about her so-called lack of comedic skills.
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classicsoncall22 February 2017Back when talkie movies were just getting under way in the early Thirties, it seems to me that they would have offered up a lot of story ideas that would be original for audiences of the era. Even with that, it seems to me you could have seen where this film was going from a mile away; you couldn't have telegraphed it any better. That would have been OK here if the principals had even an ounce of charisma between them. I had to look up Clark Gable's film credits to see how many movies he made before this one, (and they were considerable), because it seems like he was giving a rookie performance. As for Marion Davies, this was my first look at her in any picture, and though adequate, there wasn't anything really inspiring in her performance.
The treat for this viewer had to do with some quickie references to characters that would be essentially unrecognizable today, especially to younger movie fans. The first had to do with that sideshow in which the Smith Brothers of cough drop fame happened to show up. Back when I was a kid taking them for a sore throat I never gave it a second thought that the Smiths might have been a real pair of brothers. So that was cool.
There was also a remark made by Larry Cain's (Gable) manager Pop Walters (William Collier Sr.) after the newspaper headlines began touting the Cain/Mabel romance. He said that Cain was 'so wild Frank Buck couldn't bring him back'. That would have been a neat reference to big game hunter Frank Buck who's trademark motto was 'Bring 'em Back Alive'. So again, a nifty reminder of one of my childhood memories.
The thing that floored me though was how elaborate that set was for the romantic stage number featuring a 'Thousand Love Songs'. It even had a canal with a boat floating around on it! For what looked like a fairly slap-dash put together picture, that seemed to be quite the expensive proposition. Earlier, the Coney Island dance routine between Mabel O'Dare (Davies) and Sammy White looked pretty entertaining with some unusual moves. I'll give them credit for that.
Nominally a boxing picture, given that Gable's character was the World Heavyweight Champion, the story didn't venture much into the ring until the final reel. When it did, I couldn't believe they'd have Larry Cain lose the belt in such an awkward manner, even for the sake of true love. I guess it was about the time Dodo Allen Jenkins threw in the towel that I did the same. -
blanche-213 February 2016Clark Gable and Marion Davies star in a 1936 film, "Cain and Mabel," directed by Lloyd Bacon.
Gable plays a talented boxer, Larry Cain. Davies as Mabel O'Dare starts out as a waitress and, after meeting a man (Roscoe Karns) who promises the moon, winds up starring in a Broadway show.
The two meet when Cain is trying to get some sleep before a big fight, and Mabel is directly over him at a hotel practicing dance moves. It ends badly, with Cain vowing if he ever meets her again...well, he makes lots of threats.
Though they both find success, something is missing in each one of them. Cain can't get fights and business is way down for the show. A publicist decides that to give them glamour and excitement, they need - Love. He plants a story in the papers claiming that the two are having a romance. Since they hate one another, it won't be easy.
Even back then, this story was derivative and predictable, but the two stars are delightful. Marion Davies' success has often been laid at the feet of her powerful boyfriend, William Randolph Hearst, but she was a talented actress and comedienne. Gable, despite his gruffness, was very likable, and the two had great chemistry. What a smile Gable had!
A couple of things bothered me. You could really tell this wasn't written by a New Yorker. First of all, who in their right mind would take a plane from the theater district in New York, a block or two from the tunnel, to Newark? It's 14 miles!
The other thing is that when Mabel refuses to go on stage - where was her understudy? They chased Mabel all over, she is holding up the show, they're vamping the first number - send out the understudy. Uh, didn't happen.
Those are minor and no one will care. Fun movie. -
jpheifer-129 January 2007This is a wonderful screwball comedy. Marion Davies is lovely and Clark Gable is lovelier. This is a movie that could easily be re-made today, as stars still have handlers and hangers-on who place their own interests at higher priority than the "cash cow," a.k.a. star, with whom they are associated.
The dialog is great and well-delivered. Everyone gets a good line in. I found myself fast-forwarding through the song and dance numbers--never been a song and dance fan. The costumes are fairly plain, but elegant. There are some unfortunate sleeves and a laughable head-gear for poor Marion at the end of one of the numbers. And, you get to see Clark Gable in shorts. -
planktonrules18 March 2006Despite whether or not people came to see this movie (and they did), this movie was a real step back for Clark Gable in his attempt to gain acceptance as a starring actor. For several years, his movies had improved both in budgets and writing and by now he was a huge star at MGM. So, why, I ask was he starring in such as lousy film that is ONLY redeemed by his screen presence?! The plot is 100% dumb and seems much more like one of his films from 1931 or 1932. Marion Davies, also, has almost no charisma or spark as his love interest. I've enjoyed her i other films, but her character is just awful in this movie. If I were in Gable's shoes, I wouldn't have fallen for her. Punched her,...maybe. The film is a battle (and this is definitely the focus) between the leads and it's very hard to see them eventually falling for each other. Unbelievable and sloppy.
Oddly, while most critics disliked this movie strongly, almost 60% of the scores on IMDb as of this date have given this movie a score of 10!!! While I understand that some might like this movie (after all, everybody is entitled to their opinion), I strongly suspect some person or persons have deliberately flooded IMDb with scores of 10, as by any objective standard, it's not a great film. Even his GREAT films that are in the IMDb TOP 250 (such as GONE WITH THE WIND or IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT) have a MUCH lower percentage of scores of 10 (with less than 40% of the scores being 10 for each). So, don't believe the high score--something fishy is happening here! -
larrydearing28 May 2019The plot is as trite & hackneyed as they come, but the characters and the lines are great - lots of laughs. Clark Gable is great. Ruth Donelly is entertaining in her one-note character actress role. I've been an Allen Jenkins fan for years. He's another one-note character actor but always entertaining. This is one of his biggest & best roles. Marion Davies? - As an actress, she's a good dancer. This is a thoroughly enjoyable movie if you're in the mood for an unchallenging but unashamedly fun movie.
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lugonian21 January 2008CAIN AND MABEL (Warner Brothers, 1936), directed by Lloyd Bacon, sounds like a clever title for a Biblical tale dealing with Cain, and his sister, Mabel, instead of his brother, Abel. Though not quite the Old Testament, it's an overly familiar story about two people, a heavyweight boxing champion and his feuding relationship with a Broadway dancer. In a product starring MGM performers Marion Davies (a Warners resident since 1935, with another year to go before her retirement) and Clark Gable (on loan from that studio), this reunion, their first since POLLY OF THE CIRCUS (MGM, 1932), is a disappointment regardless of its high production values in the MGM tradition.
The script, set in New York City's Broadway district, introduces Mabel O'Dare (Marion Davies), a waitress of two years employed at Champs, a very busy luncheonette. She encounters Aloyisus K. Reilly (Roscoe Karns), an unemployed reporter who, following Mabel's advise on becoming a publicity man, decides to promote her after being responsible for getting her fired from her job. Roaming around casting offices, Mabel gets her first break auditioning for producer Jake Sherman's (Walter Catlett) upcoming show, "Words and Music" after Toddy Williams (Pert Kelton), a temperamental star, walks out during rehearsals. With Ronny Caldwell (David Carlyle) her leading man, and Milo (Hobart Cavanaugh) as her dance director, Mabel works long and hard, rehearsing through the night in her room at the Ardington Hotel. The constant tapping on the floor creates a disturbance for Larry Cain (Clark Gable), a prizefighter in the room below trying to rest up for the upcoming fight at Madison Square Garden. Cain goes to her room to ask her to stop, but all he gets is a door slam on his face. His lack of sleep causes Cain to lose the fight and the feud between dancer and boxer. Because Cain and Mabel are faltering in their work, as a publicity stunt, Reilly, knowing that they can't stand each other, promotes the "greatest love story in America." When Cain and Mabel do fall in love and make plans to get married, with he giving up the fighting game to work as a garage mechanic and she quitting show business altogether, Reilly does all he can to break up the match through vicious schemes and with the help of Cain's assistants, Dodo (Allen Jenkins) and "Pop" Walters (William Collier Sr.), and Mabel's Aunt Mimi (Ruth Donnelly), thus stirring up confusion.
With all the feuding and fussing, CAIN AND MABEL takes time for two lavish scale production numbers choreographed by Bobby Connelly and score by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. The first, "Coney Island" sung and performed by Sammy White and Marion Davies, is played for laughs. White and Davies (the latter dressed in slacks and hat that has her resembling a female Buster Brown) go through costume changes at a blink of an eye as they encounter legendary figures as Napoleon, the Smith Brothers, Julius Caesar and Popeye the Sailor in a wax museum. Although a lively tune, it's not as classic as other Warren and Dubin's New York related tunes as "42nd Street" or "Lullaby of Broadway." The second, "I Sing You a Thousand Love Songs" sung by David Carlyle (voice dubbed), the film's best song, is mixed in with French tune, "L'Amour, Toujours, L'Amour," "Those Endearing Young Charms," "The Rose in Her Hair" and "The Shadow Waltz" before reverting to its original song. This number is given a real lavish scale treatment with dancers waltzing about and Davies in a Cinderella-type wedding gown surrounded by giant human pipe organs playing to "Here Comes the Bride." This number might have succeeded had it not been overblown to extreme measures. "Here Comes Chiquita," the third production number of the evening, coming late in the story, is sung by male chorus waiting for its star principle, Mabel. Due to some merry mix-up, it's never performed or heard in its entirety.
In spite of a fine cast with a story with possibilities, CAIN AND MABEL, which was filmed before in the silent era as THE GREAT WHITE WAY (1923), comes across as weak and contrived, especially in its final half hour. During its 90 minutes, it makes every effort to become a classic backstage story but with nothing new to offer. It tries to make due with amusing situations, but few good one-liners and having the lead players pouring water at one another doesn't make it a great comedy. Even when going so far as being a tender love story, it almost works thanks to the chemistry of Gable and Davies, but without a well developed script, everything falls flat. While Davies is a fine comedienne when good material allows, Gable, minus his famous mustache this time around, appears uneasy at times, looking as though he'd like to throw in the towel. Roscoe Karns, in a sort of role excelled by Pat O'Brien many times over, seems miscast in this one, turning out his obnoxious character into a truly unlikable one. Maybe Karns and Jenkins should have switched parts here. Although mediocre, it gets by due to its principle players.
Having never been distributed on video cassette, CAIN AND MABEL turns up occasionally on cable's television's all-movie channel, Turner Classic Movies. (**) -
Michael_Elliott6 January 2011Cain and Mabel (1936)
** (out of 4)
Extremely flat comedy-musical about a heavyweight boxer (Clark Gable) and a Broadway star (Marion Davies) who hate one another but agree to a "relationship" to boost their career. The publicity of their relationship gets more people to come watch their business but soon the two enemies start to really fall in love, which just sets off more problems. It's rather amazing that at this point in her career Davies was still getting top-billing and even over Gable who had won an Oscar two years earlier and was one of the biggest box-office draws in the world. With that said, the two might be legends but there isn't a pinch of chemistry between the two and the screenplay is do downright lame that you wish it would end shortly after it started. The screenplay is a real mess as the story is so predictable that you can't help but feel bored but what's even worse is that the "story" of the two enemies dating doesn't happen until nearly the 50-minute mark. Everything leading up to the story starting are a bunch of scenes that really don't add up to anything including the incredibly bland opening sequence where Davies is a waitress who gets fired and then accidentally ends up in the Broadway show. What was the point of this? I'm going to guess that someone wanted more comedy sequences so this was thrown in but not a single frame of it is funny. There are a lot of comic moments in the film but sadly the majority of them fall flat on their face. The only saving grace are a couple good one-liners from the supporting players like Allen Jenkins and Roscoe Karns. Gable, as you'd expect, delivers a pretty good performance as he has no trouble pulling off the tough boxer role. Davies, on the other hand, is miscast and never fits the role. The comedy type here just isn't her thing so she kills the majority of the jokes and even worse is that the entire film is built around here character and she simply can't carry things. Her and Gable seem like brothers and sisters and never really seem comfortable with one another. Another head-scratcher is that there are some gigantic musical numbers that are downright horrid and stop the film in its tracks. I'm really not sure what the point of all of these were unless, again, someone wanted to show her off as a singer. Yeah, it seems someone had a boyfriend who really forced this film all around. -
JohnHowardReid11 September 2016Louis B. Mayer and William Randolph Hearst had a terrific row, as a result of which Hearst pulled up stakes and moved his entire unit from M-G-M to Warner Bros where he was personally welcomed by Jack Warner. My guess is that Warner interceded for Hearst with Mayer and that Marion Davies was blamed for the split. In any event, Mayer and Warner remained on extremely friendly terms and here we see Mayer lending his top star, Clark Gable, to Warner, something I don't think he ever did for anyone else. Mayer and Warner were also staging a friendly competition as to who could underwrite the most expensive musical number. Mayer won, but number two comes mighty close. Coney Island is a delight too. Yes, the screenplay does tend to strain its metaphors, but it's sharply acted by both Hearst's mistress and Mayer's top star. The wonderful musical interludes were brilliantly directed by Bobby Connolly, and these were allied to a noisy, fast-talking screenplay with the sort of wisecracks that most people (including me) find highly amusing. Busby Berkeley was the original choice to direct both the movie itself and the musical numbers, but when Marion Davies heard of Busby's reputation as a slave driver, she said no-no! So Bobby Connolly was hired for the musical numbers and dapper clotheshorse Lloyd Bacon (who was always nice to the ladies but would scream and fling one of his $200 hats at actors who missed their cues) became the director.
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When Marian Davies is fired from her restaurant, she suddenly rises to the position of a scandal free Broadway diva who only has to look lovely while surrounded by the loveliest of sets and costumes. She is busy practicing her tap routine which is keeping fighter Clark Gable from getting rest before the big fight. Gable goes to confront Davies, gets the gate, and ultimately ends up in a fake publicity stunt to boost both of their careers since there is nothing juicy in the press about them. Their initial hatred gets more and more notice in the papers, boosting their box office appeal. Gable and Davies find out they can't live without each other and decide to give up their careers which makes their managers furious and desperate to prevent this from going through.
While the comedy battles between Gable and Davies are somewhat amusing, they aren't strong enough to hold this film together. Neither are two over-sized production numbers, "Coney Island" and "I'll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs", put together by Warner Brothers' other dance director, Bobby Connelly. The second number has various love songs from over the years interpolated into the elaphantine number, including the recent "Shadow Waltz", first heard in "Gold Diggers of 1933". Such a set could never appear on any Broadway stage, typical of movie views of musical comedy in the 1930's. "Coney Island" is more camp than spectacle, with its wax museum figures speaking out some witty lines, including Napoleon, Salome, and even the Smith Brothers (of cough drop fame).
Warner Brothers perennials Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly and Alan Dinehart liven it up somewhat. Davies and Gable do have a nice chemistry, but as a blonde comedian, Davies was no Carole Lombard. The film seems to be more of a William Randolph Hearst fantasy of his mistress than a serious attempt to make a great movie.