Never Let Me Go

To me, the films Clark Gable made in the 1950s are a notch below his prior films. That's because too often Clark played "Clark Gable" (sort of like many of John Wayne's later films) and he didn't veer far from the expected. However, NEVER LET ME GO, dares to be different. While not a great plot, it is interesting and worth seeing. Gable falls for dancer, Gene Tierney, and marries her. However, she is Russian and the government basically holds her hostage and ships Gable out of the country and refuses to renew his VISA. So, Gable organizes a mission where he sneaks into the country to smuggle his wife out from under the commies' noses. While difficult to believe, it is a great curio of the era and illustrates life in the Stalinist era (which ended the same year the film debuted).

For Never Let Me Go Clark Gable has dusted off his American correspondent role from Comrade X. In that very funny comedy, Gable was playing an American newspaperman covering the Soviet Union before World War II. He's back at his correspondent's desk in this film. However here he's deadly in earnest as a man driven by love to get his Russian bride out of the police state.

Sadly the film was dated from its release with the prominent use of newsreel footage involving Joseph Stalin. The film was released on May 1, 1953 and Stalin had died in March of 1953. The state was the same, but the personalized red bogeyman that Stalin had become was no longer there. I'm sure that must have lessened the impact for those who saw Never Let Me Go in the theater.

During the war Gable meets ballerina Gene Tierney and in the spirit of the wartime alliance they fall in love and get married. But when the shooting war against Hitler stops and the Cold War starts, no one tells them NYET concerning romance. The increasingly cynical tone of Gable's stories make him an undesirable in the Soviet Union, he gets deported and Tierney is left behind. The Soviets don't recognize marriage and romance with the enemy.

Clark's not going to take that lying down. With Richard Haydn, another man who married a Russian girl left behind, they hire Bernard Miles who has a seaworthy craft and plan a rescue. It's quite a plan and a last minute hitch should have told any sensible person to try another day. Of course that's not what happens, but it does render the last minute rescue somewhat silly.

Tierney and Gable make a sincere of pair of romantic lovers. Even without the personalization of Stalin, the film is an accurate reflection of the times. Russians are a mighty suspicious lot of people, before, during, and after the Soviet Union. Kenneth More has a very nice role as a television broadcaster presumably for the BBC who helps the leads with some coded messages in his broadcasts.

Gable was getting a bit old for these kind of romantic daring do roles by 1953 though. It's not one of the top films of his career or in that last decade of that fabled Gable career.

Some of the scenes for this movie were filmed at Lusty Glaze beach in Newquay Cornwall. I visited there some years ago and there was a tea cafe with some stills from the film, Having seen the film,one could take in the atmosphere of the night filming which took place there. I also met local people who saw the filming and of course the stars. To reach Lusty Glaze, you have to decend over 100 steps to the beach. One wonders how all the cameras and lighting equipment actually got down there. There is only one access to the beach and one can imagine the actors having to climb and decend those steps to complete the take. Never Let Me Go was in my opinion one of Clark Gables most memorable films and his co star Gene Tierney was magnificent.

Sometimes there's a screen couple that's so adorable and looks so happy together, they make you wish they were married offscreen as well. Then, whenever we see either of them in another movie with a different costar, it's almost as if they're being unfaithful. For me, I don't wish Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh were married; it's Clark Gable and Gene Tierney. I've never seen him give such a tender performance or look at another costar with such love - not even Jean Harlow!

Clark stars in this romantic drama as an American journalist stuck in post-war Russia. He's been pursuing the beautiful ballerina Gene Tierney, but up until recently she hasn't given him the time of day. Now, she's learned enough English to say she loves him and that she's agreed to marry him. The only glitch in the newlyweds' happiness is leaving the country. Clark wants to bring Gene back to America, but the Russian government isn't keen to let her go. In a heartbreaking scene, government officials pretend to give both their traveling papers, only to let Clark on the plane and hold Gene back. Both restrained, they're forced apart as Clark is flown out of Russia and forbidden from returning.

Another couple, Richard Haydn and Anna Valentina, are married and also trying to leave the country. They have a baby on the way, so when they also get waylaid by the government with the same treatment, they start to panic. I always like seeing Richard Haydn in pre-Uncle Max roles, since he looks so different and has such a different energy. He's a great sidekick to Clark, but the main couple definitely steal the show. Gene Tierney is completely adorable, with her fantastic Russian accent and her ballerina training. She's never been lovelier.

I didn't really like Clark Gable during his heyday, but I certainly admired his ability to adapt to the changing acting style of the passing years. In this movie, he's no longer the fast-talking, shouting fellow from the 1930s. He speaks with his eyes, talks softly, and fits right in with the realistic style of the 1950s. And not that this is particularly relevant, but he still looks good, too! Never Let Me Go was the same year as Mogambo, but he looks far younger in this movie.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During the section when Clark Gable and Richard Haydn are on the boat, the waves make them bob up and down quite a bit and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

I never watch war-like movies. But since Clark Gable starred in it, I knew I had to give it a try. This movie is well rounded because it has romance, drama, and even a little mystery. I'm my own movie critic. I pick apart endings and insist they should have been different! This ending is perfect. Anyone that picks this movie apart should watch boring modern day movies that get their ideas from old movies! And they're never as good!