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Believe it or not, Any Number Can Play was one of the few non-musicals produced by Arthur Freed over at MGM. To show you it was a Freed film, please note that the background music includes such Freed tunes as This Heart of Mine and Should I.

Richard Brooks who would soon get a big directing break in another Freed produced non-musical, Crisis, wrote a very fine story that Mervyn LeRoy directed with class and finesse. LeRoy got a stellar cast together and really mixed the ingredients well.

Clark Gable is perfect as an aging gambler with a lot on his plate. He's just been told by Dr. Leon Ames that he's got angina pectoris and for the sake of his health he'd better give up a very high stress profession. He's got a loving wife in Alexis Smith and a rebellious teenage son in Darryl Hickman who he barely knows. Living with them is her sister Audrey Totter and her husband Wendell Corey. Gable employs Corey at his gambling establishment where Corey does a little chiseling on the side and he's also into racketeers Richard Rober and William Conrad for some big bucks. They've got ideas how to cancel the debt. And Totter measures her own husband against Gable and finds Corey quite wanting.

That's just in his own household. Gable's got a lot of friends and enemies playing at his high class establishment which the police all know about, but do nothing because half the town's establishment is in the place on a given night. Such habitués might include Frank Morgan, Marjorie Rambeau, and Mary Astor a divorcée also carrying a huge torch for MGM's king.

The story involves all these issues and how they're resolved over one 36 hour period. What makes Any Number Can Play such a good film is that even the smallest characters do have their moments. Art Baker plays the owner of a country club where Hickman gets in a fight over his father. Note how in his brief moments, Baker tries oh so hard to keep Gable out of it when he discovers who Hickman is. Astor has only one real scene, but it's a beauty involving Gable having an angina attack and then with minimal dialog the two of them talking about a lost love of many years ago. Staged brilliantly, I might add.

One thing about Any Number Can Play that is frighteningly real are those angina attacks, remembering just how Gable died as the result of doing some very high stress stunt work on The Misfits. Absolutely eerie.

Any Number Can Play is one of Gable's best post World War II films and not to be missed by any of his fans. And if you're not a Clark Gable fan, you might become one after seeing this.

This is a solid Gable movie with superb supporting actors. You've got a star cast with many cameos, and some strong performances.

There are rich storylines: Gambling and the psychology of it How to keep a successful long-term marriage Father-son issues Stealing and the principles against it - moral lesson An attempted robbery and more!

Many of the star cast - Wendell Corey, Mary Astor, Barry Sullivan - you wanted to understand more and to know more. But then the movie might have been too long. Perhaps the writing could have explored one side line/side story a little more.

We wanted more backstory from all these stars. Wendell is a timid man who is conned and cheats Gable - where does he come from? Why does Gable employ/trust him? Is it just family loyalty? Alexis' sister is jealous and we want to know why she and her husband and living with her.

Barry Sullivan is an excellent actor and we want to know more about his partnership with Gable. He's exciting and compelling to watch. You have the guy from the Wizard of Oz try to take Gable for all he's worth. What's his backstory.

It's amazing to have all these stars, but not have for them more writing/depth on their characters.

Still, Gable, and Alexis are compelling, and it's a compelling story about family development, life choices, high stakes life. These are many issues we face in our day-to-day lives, and we get to see how they navigate them.

I enjoyed this movie and recommend it for viewing once.

Not a great film but a very entertaining one with some wonderful performances from a cast of pros.

Gable holds the spotlight effortlessly as the gambling house owner at a crossroads ably assisted by some of the best character actors working at MGM at the time. Used as both a launching pad for some actors just starting out, Wendell Corey and Barry Sullivan, and a chance to see many wonderful character actors with years of experience, Lewis Stone, Frank Morgan etc. all get their moment in the spotlight.

It's hard to pick best in show with so many marvelous players but some that stand out are: Mary Astor is a nice cameo as a lonely woman with a longstanding yen for Clark who through the years has settled for friendship. Both Stone and Morgan add pathos to their individual roles as does Audrey Totter as Alexis Smith's worn down sister. Marjorie Rambeau is an absolute joy as a rambunctious dowager who swoops right in and steals her scenes without breaking a sweat. Lastly Alexis Smith who often was wasted in decorative roles bites into her role as Gable's tough wife. She initially seems a complacent and docile homebody but when the chips are down she emerges as somewhat of a tigress in a terrific performance.

As might be apparent from the long list of excellent work turned in, the film has many plot lines; really too many and that's its main weakness. Director Mervyn LeRoy juggles all the various happenings effectively but a bit of trimming would have sharpened the film's focus.

With an interesting subject that is very much relevant today, a more than capable director who has done some decent and more films and it is hard to go wrong with talent like Clark Gable, Mary Astor and Frank Morgan, have fondness for all three. Seeing them individually in different films is always great, seeing them in the same film together is even more of a treat.

'Any Number Can Play' is certainly an interesting film and does quite a good job with its serious subject. In terms of quality, everybody involved did much better in other things, especially previously, but mostly they are served well and 'Any Number Can Play' is a more than watchable and actually decent film in its own way. Some flaws here but also a lot of strengths, the film does try to do too much but the performances more than make up for it.

Like said above, 'Any Number Can Play' would have been better if it tried to do less. It can have too much going on that it's occasionally a bit hasty and muddled. It would have benefitted from not having as many characters and fleshed out some of the characters more.

Mary Astor and Audrey Totter should have had more to do. Astor deserved more than a cameo, but actually comes off better but she is quite touching here. Didn't really get very much from Totter, who is rather bland and her role fairly underwritten.

Clark Gable however is excellent in the lead role, charming yet hard-edged. Frank Morgan, Marjorie Rambeau and particularly Lewis Stone are more than solid in support, Rambeau is a delight and Stone is quite affecting and understated. Morgan has a knack for stealing scenes without over-egging. Alexis Smith is fetching and has charm.

The film is nicely shot and while the settings are few they are hardly ugly. The music doesn't intrude yet has enough presence to stop it from being bland. Mervyn Le Roy may have bring the most distinguished of all directing jobs but he keeps things moving and doesn't undermine the cast in any way.

Overall the script is thoughtful and taut and the story may have its faults but the intrigue factor is high and it does a good job showing the dangers and horrors of gambling and how it affects the family without trivialising or overdoing. Didn't think that the moral was a weird one at all.

In summation, interesting and worthwhile but with room for improvement. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This postwar movie was one of Clark Gable's last for the studio that made him a star--MGM. Gable is older, perhaps wiser, but here fully capable of playing this role with all of the insight into life that his 49 years have earned him. One has the feeling that after the great '30s roles such as Rhett Butler, after the death of Carole Lombard, and after the war, Gable was perfect for the world-weary professional gambler that he plays here--the part fits him like a glove. And he's surrounded by great character actors such as Frank Morgan, Lewis Stone, and Mary Astor, to name a few.

I don't agree with the other review that said this was a totally unrealistic, if watchable film: I grew up in a small city that had a gambling house similar to the one depicted here. It was well run, had many regulars, and was quite well known to the authorities. In any case, this movie is well worth a view, if you're not a Gable fan, you might be after viewing this one.