Caïn et Mabel

Cain and Mabel (1936)

** (out of 4)

Extremely flat comedy-musical about a heavyweight boxer (Clark Gable) and a Broadway star (Marion Davies) who hate one another but agree to a "relationship" to boost their career. The publicity of their relationship gets more people to come watch their business but soon the two enemies start to really fall in love, which just sets off more problems. It's rather amazing that at this point in her career Davies was still getting top-billing and even over Gable who had won an Oscar two years earlier and was one of the biggest box-office draws in the world. With that said, the two might be legends but there isn't a pinch of chemistry between the two and the screenplay is do downright lame that you wish it would end shortly after it started. The screenplay is a real mess as the story is so predictable that you can't help but feel bored but what's even worse is that the "story" of the two enemies dating doesn't happen until nearly the 50-minute mark. Everything leading up to the story starting are a bunch of scenes that really don't add up to anything including the incredibly bland opening sequence where Davies is a waitress who gets fired and then accidentally ends up in the Broadway show. What was the point of this? I'm going to guess that someone wanted more comedy sequences so this was thrown in but not a single frame of it is funny. There are a lot of comic moments in the film but sadly the majority of them fall flat on their face. The only saving grace are a couple good one-liners from the supporting players like Allen Jenkins and Roscoe Karns. Gable, as you'd expect, delivers a pretty good performance as he has no trouble pulling off the tough boxer role. Davies, on the other hand, is miscast and never fits the role. The comedy type here just isn't her thing so she kills the majority of the jokes and even worse is that the entire film is built around here character and she simply can't carry things. Her and Gable seem like brothers and sisters and never really seem comfortable with one another. Another head-scratcher is that there are some gigantic musical numbers that are downright horrid and stop the film in its tracks. I'm really not sure what the point of all of these were unless, again, someone wanted to show her off as a singer. Yeah, it seems someone had a boyfriend who really forced this film all around.

This movie is a must see for anyone who is a screwball comedy fan. I found it to be very very funny. Why it is not on video, I don't know. It is something that can could be seen multiple times. It is packed full of one liners, glamour (Marion and Clark), humorous story line and a few rather interesting show numbers. I would rate it right up there with "Red Dust" and "Idiot's Delight".

The picture seems to be put together from a lot of other pictures (musicals, boxing, backstage on Broadway, romance), but the pieces are of little interest in themselves and don't fit well together.

To me, the many quick jokes are the best part of the picture. Also good are a dance number (in which Marion Davies is clearly outmatched), Roscoe Karns as a PR man, and Allen Jenkins as Clark Gable's boxing trainer.

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.

---------------------------------

I watched this again tonight. One thing that struck me about it this time was that, in the very large musical number in the second half of the movie, which just goes on and on and on - it's supposed to be part of the musical Mabel O'Dare is appearing in - Davies is given almost nothing to do. She just stands on top of the elaborate stage set in an elaborate costume and smiles. I kept thinking: if this were a musical with any other musical star, they would have had her doing a lot more dancing, and probably some singing.

Clark Gable and Marion Davies star in this romantic comedy that is like a time capsule from the thirties, filled with scads of depression era words and phrases.

Davies plays hoofer Mabel O'Dare, who gets her big break due to a misunderstanding. Gable plays boxer Larry Cain, who makes it to the heavyweight title. Because their careers are bringing in only so-so box office, PR guy Reilly (Roscoe Karns) cooks up a scheme to gain them more press: pretend they are an item. You can probably predict the rest of the plot, though you might not anticipate that the unlikely pair will bond over a pork chop.

This film is filled with one-liners. It also features some impressive stage productions that might have you looking for Busby Berkeley's name in the credits (it's not there). As for the singing and dancing, they hold up, especially when compared with the standards of the day.

Davies might not be Loy or Rogers or Harlow, but she does a creditable job, so the sponsorship of W. R. Hearst might not have been necessary for her to pull down this part.

Overall, this is an enjoyable film.