Souvent femme varie

Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and Robert Montgomery are childhood friends who are in not only a love triangle but a love quadrangle in "Forsaking All Others," from 1934.

Crawford is Mary Clay, who is about to be married to Dill (Montgomery). Gable is Jeff Williams, who returns from Spain with the intention of proposing to Mary. When he walks in, there's a party going on celebrating the upcoming wedding. Jeff puts on a brave face as Dill and Mary are two of his closest friends. Dill, however, has some old business, and that's his ex-girlfriend Connie (Frances Drake). Turns out Connie's business isn't as old as Mary and Dill thought because, as Mary prepares to walk down the aisle, Jeff gets a telegram saying that Connie and Dill are married.

This is an entertaining comedy, with the three stars in top form. Montgomery is a riot, and Gable - what can I say. I always liked him, but let's face it, at this point in the 1930s the man was irresistible! That smile! That dimple! And that dynamite screen presence - he's wonderful. And he injects the film with warmth. Though comedy was never Crawford's forte, she actually plays this straight and is very good.

Billie Burke costars and Rosalind Russell has a small role. Good fun.

This is one of the several movies that Joan Crawford made with Clark Gable, and fortunately quite a few of them (maybe all) have made it to at least DVD-R via the Warner Archive. This is one of the best the two did together. It's a romantic comedy in which Joan plays socialite Mary Clay, who is about to marry lifelong acquaintance Dillon Todd (Robert Montgomery). Clark Gable plays another of Mary's lifelong friends, Jeff Williams. Jeff has been long away from home and decides to come back just to ask Mary to marry him, unaware that Mary is about to marry Dillon. When he learns about their upcoming marriage he decides to keep his feelings to himself, although the look he has as if having been punched in the stomach when he hears the news says it all. Robert Montgomery is playing the usual harmless playboy character here that he did so much of in the early 1930's. It looks like Mary and Dillon's marriage is about to go off without a hitch until one of Dillon's old girlfriends appears on the scene.

This film was released about six months after the precode era ended, so there is nothing really racey going on here. About the most extreme thing you will see is Robert Montgomery in a dress. However, W.S. Van Dyke is the director of this film, and he knew how to combine sexual tension and comedy in an age of aggressive censorship, and this is a fine example of his work. I highly recommend it to fans of films of the 1930's.

I have to imagine that in order for MGM to justify using two of their top leading men with Joan Crawford, their parts in Forsaking All Others would have to have been built up considerably. The original Broadway production of this comedy that ran 110 performances in 1933 starred Tallulah Bankhead and it was strictly her show. As if it would have been any other way.

I have to give Joan Crawford credit on this one. Unlike her later film Susan and God where she tries to imitate Gertrude Lawrence with accent and all, she wisely does not try to do a Tallulah impersonation. She creates her own character here and it's a good one. She's got both Robert Montgomery and Clark Gable after her, but she chooses early on and in the end she finds out she chooses wrong. In fact the only impersonation Crawford does is one of her Grand Hotel co-star Greta Garbo.

Both Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery settle into familiar stereotypes for them. Gable is another reporter character like he is It Happened One Night and Montgomery is an irresponsible playboy like he was in a gazillion films.

Montgomery and Crawford are set to be married, but Montgomery leaves her at the altar and runs off with his demanding mistress Frances Drake. But Crawford has Gable's shoulder to cry on for most of the rest of the film. By the way, Drake gives a performance that's a case study in canine feminus. She makes Joan Collins in Dynasty look like Maria Von Trapp. Drake dominates in whatever scene she's in. No way that Tallulah Bankhead would have let that happen on stage.

Charles Butterworth and Billie Burke are also on hand and young Rosalind Russell on her way up has a small part as one of Crawford's friends. Nothing new in Forsaking All Others, but the ground is familiar enough.

A witty film that benefits mostly from the pairing of Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. After a brisk and entertaining first half, things start to drag a bit when Gable is absent from the screen for a protracted period. Nevertheless, its well worth seeing.

throughout the film, all the big names are laughing, joking, playing, having a grand ol time, until every now and then some real life adult situations get in the way. liberal use of backdrop scenery. also a lot of getting dressed and undressed. Miss Joan Crawford (Mary) getting spanked. naughty naughty. Billie Burke with the hair curler contraption on her head. all right at the beginning of enforcement of the film production code, with the official card at the beginning of the movie to prove it. Clark Gable (Jeff) and Robert Montgomery (Dill) keep stepping out of the shower. Montgomery in a dress. Fun stuff! Rosalind Russell and Charles Butterworth ("Shemp"... not to be confused with one of the Stooges... has nothing to do with that) thrown in for more wisecracking. Even the butler gets a couple funny lines. Why isn't this shown more often? and why is it rated so low? Catch this one and see Joanie in a glamorous but not over-done over-bearing role.... before she turned to the dark side...