secondtake 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.

richard-1787 This 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.

holly Since 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.

MDfan 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.