Cable: The King Remembered (1975)
*** (out of 4)
Nice, if not all together complete, documentary on the life and career of Clark Gable. The film starts off going over Gable's childhood where he grew up poor with a strict father. From here we learn that he married a couple older women in order to get his career going before doing bit parts of MGM. From here we learn about his "punishment" of being sent over to Columbia where he'd end up winning the Oscar for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. From here we see clips from some of his biggest movies including GONE WITH THE WIND, THE MISFITS and several others. A few of Gable's friends are interviewed here including Andy Devine who talks about their hunting and camping trips. Director William Wellman talks about them working together on THE CALL OF THE WILD and the big fight that they had on the set when the actor kept showing up late. Other topics discussed here includes his marriage to Carole Lombard, which of course would end in tragedy. How Gable was never the same after this event is also discussed as is his final marriage, which gave him a son but only after he had died of a heart attack. One of the best moments in the film happens early on when we see various clips from Gable's first few MGM movies where he played the tough guy who didn't take anything from women. Of course, this type of stuff wouldn't work together but you get a great idea of how Gable's career changed throughout the years. This documentary really doesn't go into every period of Gable's life and there's certainly a lot of room for improvement but considering when this was made it's worth watching for fans of the actor.
