Clark Gable plays a mobster who falls for his lawyer's daughter (Norma Shearer). She falls for him too, finding him more exciting than her current beau (Leslie Howard). Lionel Barrymore plays her father, an alcoholic, who isn't happy about his daughter mixed up with Gable. Her family doesn't approve either, and won't even let her back in the house when the affair goes on too long. Shearer enjoys the thrill of the romance, even after she's almost killed by rival mobsters shooting at Gable in his car. Gable is great in this movie, and is one of his last "supporting" roles.
Lionel Barrymore won the Oscar for Best Actor in a great performance as the alcoholic lawyer who tries to go sober but struggles to do so. In one scene, he gets so drunk that he wanders off on a freight train and gets lost. In another scene, someone jokingly slaps him on the back and he reacts by saying, "Who's that - John L. Sullivan?" I had to look that person up to know who he was talking about; Sullivan was a boxer who was famous around the early 1900s.
The movie has a surprise twist near the end.
Directed by Clarence Brown. Highly Recommended
This was the first movie I watched on
Warner Archive Instant, a new streaming service that is like Netflix, but features only Warner Archive titles. It's in a "beta" testing phase right now, and I was able to watch it for free. Once the service kicks off, I would be interested in subscribing - there are some great titles available!
Other blog reviews about this movie:
Booze Movies (review of
A Free Soul)
