Le roi et quatre reines

Clark Gable dreamed up some sweet con game to do four lovely widows and their mother-in-law out of some stolen loot that their late husbands an outlaw brother gang have robbed.

One McDade brother is still alive, but we're not sure which one. And through force of personality their mother-in-law is keeping them in a ghost town hide out until he returns for what's his. If stolen loot can be considered his.

Gable arrives in town and woos all the women who don't need much encouragement. No male companionship for seven years, got to be tough on a gal. The women are Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Sara Shane, and Barbara Nichols.

The King and Four Queens though Clark Gable is billed above the title, this picture really belongs to Jo Van Fleet. 1956 was a good year for her, Jo also turned in an outstanding performance as Doc Holiday's gal pal Kate Fisher in Gunfight at the OK Corral. Her's is the dominant performance of the film. It has to be or the idea that these women wouldn't have just overpowered her and forced Van Fleet to tell where the loot is becomes ludicrous.

Lots of sexual innuendo in this film, very much a precursor to the adult TV westerns that were to come soon. One of the more interesting of Clark Gable's post World War II films.

The King and Four Queens is directed by Raoul Walsh and written by Margaret Fits and Richard Alan Simmons. It stars Clark Gable, Jo Van Fleet, Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols and Sara Shane. A CinemaScope/DeLuxe Color production, music is by Alex North and cinematography by Lucien Ballard.

Utterly delightful froth! Plot essentially finds Gable as a crafty drifter who learns about a group of women holed up in a ghost town who are sitting on a hoard of stolen gold. The four beauties, and their tough as old boots mother-in-law, are the wives and mother of outlaw brothers who stole the gold but who are now all presumed dead. Gable romances the four dames with the intention of locating the gold and clearing off first chance he gets, but that is far easier sounding than it is in principal!

It's all a set-up for a tale of sexual frustration and subversion of male dominance. That the Production Code renders much of the narrative to suggestion, choice scripting and fill in the gaps ourselves moments, is unfortunately a given, but it's all played with a glint in its eye and there's still a cheekiness, a sexiness, about the picture that strikes the right chords. Sometimes it's an uneasy blend of drama and comedy, but when it hits its straps, such as a wonderful dance sequence, it has the quality to land the smile firmly on your face. And this even if the final is somewhat an anti-climax.

Production wise it's a beauty. The cast are having a great old time of it, with the four younger ladies revelling in flirting about with the older and distinguished Gable. But it's Van Fleet who owns the movie, her tough old buzzard act is laced with maternal sadness and stoic strength and it underpins the whole story. Ballard's colour photography is gorgeous, with the location filming out of Calabasas, Snow Canyon and St. George proving to be magnificent backdrops, while North's musical accompaniments are pleasingly non obtrusive.

Neither uproariously funny or dramatically potent it's a film caught somewhere in the middle of both. Yet on this occasion it really doesn't matter, it's like a good old glass of bourbon, enjoyably warm while ingested but the buzz soon wears off at closing time. 7/10

Stranger Gable hears of a treasure of gold, hidden somewhere in a ghost town and guarded by an old woman and four widows. "Man's man" Gable throws all of his charms in the battle to find out where to find the treasure. As you see, the storyline is very very thin here. Most of the film is about Gable trying to charm the women, using every single trick in the book. There are a few minor surprises near the end, but this is really nothing special. Nice to catch on a rainy afternoon. 6/10

Below average with a dumb sequence of dance in a living room with no one playing the music. The music was only playing on the soundtrack! Eleanor Parker and Jo Ann Fleet were interesting, not exceptional. Some stunt riding at the start of the film, that had little to do with the story line, was noteworthy.

The cinematography (Lucien Ballard) in this film is as luscious as the four pretty young brides (Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols, and Sara Shane). From the opening credits to the end of the picture, it's pure classic 50's western in terms of rich and sumptuous color, this time by DeLuxe. While the plot isn't going to hold up to the scrutiny of some hyper film critics, it still allows for scenes that are full of sexy humor, as each bride tries her best to undress Clark Gable, perhaps none more than a seductive Jean Willes as Ruby. Jo Van Fleet, as the gun-toting mother-in-law of the four "queens", each of whom married one of her four outlaw sons, is mainly preoccupied with protecting the girls from any man who's bold or stupid enough to stray onto their out of the way property until her supposedly one living son returns from a botched bank robbery to reclaim his wife (whichever one that may be) and buried gold dust, and is the only obstacle between the girls and Gable, who only wants the gold, but is no fool when it comes to women.