To Please a Lady

This film is a typical star vehicle for Gable. He strides through it with his usual confidence, the cocked eyebrow and sly grin making the odd worthwhile appearance. What makes it unique is that it's the only teaming of Gable and Stanwyk. That's a real shame. Their chemistry and spark makes every scene they have together worthwhile, screen images and their characters clash wonderfully. A fantastic screen pairing. Barbara shines,proving again to be at home in any genre, matching it with any leading man. Gable, for his part sparkles too,deftly shading the darker elements of Mike Brannan with experienced ease. The perfect answer to a night at home or a rainy day.

I couldn't care less about the story line, though it's not too bad to sit through. But the authentic open-wheel midget and Indy-car racing footage is worth every minute of Clark and Barbara's banal banter. There's even a montage of a racing engine being machined and assembled, some nice race car closeups, and pit stop action. To top it all off, there is a couple of minutes of what looks to be authentic footage of Joie Chitwood's famous stunt car show. This is a real sleeper and highly recommended for vintage race fans.

Car racing may not be my thing or my first choice of what to watch on a regular basis, but classic film of all genres most definitely is. Both Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck were cinematic screen legends and while both of them had hit and miss film choices they were always worth watching (with a slight preference for Stanwyck). Clarence Brown is not a favourite director of mine but he did make a lot of above average to great films with few misfires.

Once one gets past the lousy and rather misleading title, 'To Please a Lady' is not one of those misfires and is above average in execution. It may be wanting in the story and script departments and both Gable and Stanwyck did better films before and since, especially before (no iconic stuff here). But neither bring the side down and neither does Brown in the director's chair. Even non-car racing fans should find some worth in 'To Please a Lady' as will those that are fans.

'To Please a Lady' does have a good deal done well. Gable's tough charisma and Stanwyck's steel really shine through, as do their wit and crackling chemistry. Have always gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Adolphe Menjou, he was often seen in one particularly recognisable role but he played that so well that it doesn't matter and this is no exception. All the cast do well. The racing does thrill and excite and one does get very nostalgic over seeing and recognising all the different cars. Brown's direction is lively and distinguished enough.

Although the production values are not perfect, the photography is nicely framed and slick throughout. Bronislau Kaper was a gifted composer with a number of fine scores, his one for 'To Please a Lady' is not one of his best but it fits and doesn't overbear at least. The script has some wit and the film isn't dull at least.

Having said that the story is very thin and often rather contrived, while the racing thrills some of the non-racing aspects of the story could have done with more juice. Some wit aside, the script flows rather awkwardly, can be rather trite and some lines did make me cringe.

Would have liked more development to the romance, which was convincing in chemistry but development-wise it felt unrealistically rushed. Character motivations also could have been elaborated upon more and while the photography is fine the back projection and splicing can be obvious at times.

Concluding, above average but not great. 6/10

To Please a Lady (1950)

Amazingly, this is from post-war America. It feels like a movie from the 1930s, both technically and the way the story is told. Even the stars, though both obviously alive and still working, are better known for their earlier work.

I'm speaking of Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck. And they have a certain degree of good chemistry on screen, though the story is so "constructed" (I'm avoiding the better word "contrived") you don't always feel what they are feeling, as characters. The one scene that does this best is an extended dinner at a club where a string orchestra is playing and they fall in love and then seem to fall out of love quickly. It's really beautiful and romantic (and the strings are as lush as any string section has sounded, and I mean it).

Because of all these things this ends up being both a great fun movie and a bit of a throwback that doesn't quite take off. The director, Clarence Brown, is also known best for much earlier movies (like the award winning pre-code "A Free Soul" which is fabulous). He's good, the acting is good, and the story is, well, pretty good. It's serviceable, but a little too packaged and somewhat thin going.

Another factor here is the racing itself, the Indianapolis 500. Some of the footage is clearly from real races (probably the 1949 or 1950 race...this movie was released in the fall of 1950). There are lots of scenes--too many, unless you are car racing fan--of cars zooming around the track. Credit goes to the cinematographer, Harold Rosson, who is a bit legendary because he helped with "Wizard of Oz" and did several other classics like "Asphalt Jungle" and "The Bad Seed." The photography matters more than usual here because it's "just" car racing, and it's made exciting and visually intense. Closeups of Gable in the car are of course constructed in the studio, but seemalessly. Great visuals throughout.

See this? You bet, but remember it's really an entertainment, and it has little complexity or depth, and it has lots and lots of race track stuff that doesn't propel the plot, just the immediate energy. It's no classic, but it has classic qualities and faces, for sure, and I liked it. And in the end, without giving a thing away, the woman (Stanwyck) stays strong and keeps her independence, a rare thing in 1950s movies.

A decent film of its era, with a very formulaic story arc between the two main characters. I had only watched this because Barbara Stanwyck was starring in it. I had no idea that it was a racing movie. But as a racing fan, it was a lot of fun to see the vintage racing footage. Even though Clark Gable was mostly acting in front of a projection screen for the racing closeups, they spliced it all together very well. And even though auto racing is dangerous now, wow, they raced open top cars with no seat belts at all, no roll bar, no fire suit, pretty much nothing at all to protect a driver except a partial helmet and goggles. Also fun to see the pit stops with a lever for a jack, and hammers to remove and replace the main tire nuts. Apparently, a lot of footage from the 1950 Indianapolis 500 was used and it was something to see.