Pour plaire à sa belle

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.

A fabulous film tour of dirt and asphalt oval tracks around the country. Forget the story! A treat to see the days when you could tour the country making a living in a race car,by yourself and a small crew of dedicated sponsors and friends. A must see for any race fan. All you lefty artists will only see it as

a sleeping pill. Pearls before swine. As a racer that ran at various tracks in the film,it cant be overstated how

nostalgic a trip it is to see men and race machinery the way it was in the old days; incredible doses of fun,danger and adventure. I read about these days and heard stories, but you can see in the filming that the crews and drivers

are a snapshot of true racing history in this country. Mark my words,in twenty years they are going to worship films like this one. Enjoy it now and show a friend the way it was....

Dreary day in Auckland New Zealand, October 2005 and TCM has "To Please a Lady " on twice in the one day. Between mowing the lawns, I watch it twice. Sludge overkill? If it had been about a football star I wouldn't have watched it. The story line is as thin as Gable's moustache. But the automotive background, 55 years old, is priceless. Some of the "action" scenes are stagey, but you can tell that Gable does some of the close up, high speed driving - you don't get wind buffet on cheeks and arms from driving at 30mph! To see an Offy' motor being stripped, to see inside what looked like a genuine 1950 racing shop and to see Mauri Rose in the legendary Novi was incredible. Not for everyone, but for classic motor racing enthusiasts this movie is a hidden treasure. You get the feeling that Gable must have been a motor racing fan.

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.