Le roi et quatre reines

i enjoyed this interesting western starring Clark gable.it's not your typical rip roaring action packed western.it's more of a lite comedy/romance.most of it takes place in one setting.a deserted ghost town inhabited by our young widows and their no nonsense gun packing mother in law.manly this is a showcase for the comedic skills of Gable and his co stars.the banter back and forth between the group is the highlight of the piece.oh,there's also 100,000 in stolen gold hidden nearby.add in some romance and a bit of deception and you have the makings of an entertaining little movie.for me,The King and Four Queens is a 6/10

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.

At the age of 55 (nearly twenty years older than Jo Van Fleet who as usual gives the best performance as the gun-toting matriarch) Clark Gable still had the charisma to be ogled skinny-dipping in this charming and mellow yarn set against majestic mountains and with an excellent score by Alex North in which he arrives among a coven of widows. Since one of them is played by by the radiant Eleanor Parker (only three years younger than the woman she calls 'Ma') no prizes for guessing who finally gets him.

Surely stars like CLARK GABLE and ELEANOR PARKER deserved better material at their home studio than this trifle about hidden gold and its effect on The King (Gable struts around like he's just left his throne for some slumming in a western shack), and four Queens (lovely looking ladies who seem out of place in this mock western).

It's a light-hearted romp for all concerned, except JO VAN FLEET who gives a dynamo performance as the tough old westerner who is hiding the loot from a bank robbery committed by her now deceased sons. When Gable comes sniffing around to discover the loot (which he endeavors to do by charming the four widows into revealing where the gold is hidden), it sets up a series of mildly suspenseful scenes where we wonder how the whole thing is going to end.

Since it's all played in rather tongue-in-cheek style with Gable handling the ladies with his usual masculine charm, it makes a rather faint impression when the tale ends without much of a bang and maybe one or two revelations.

Credit has to go to Gable and his co-star ELEANOR PARKER, both of whom share some effective moments in a rather weak tale that comes off as mildly disappointing as they ride off into the sunset together.

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.