In the mildly amusing romantic comedy Key to the City, Clark Gable and Loretta Young play mayors who meet in San Francisco, and despite contrasting personalities and values, fall in love.
Grade: B-
At a convention in San Francisco, Steve Fisk (Clark Gable), the mayor of Puget City, mistakes Clarissa Standish (Loretta Young), the mayor of Wenonah, Maine, for a balloon dancer.
Though attracted to her, Steve feels that Clarissa might be too refined for him. He needs to be careful, however, because crooked city councilman Les Taggart (Raymond Burr) is looking for a scandal to use against him politically.
Steve inadvertently get Clarissa arrested twice, first after a brawl in Chinatown restaurant, and then on their way to a costume party. A photographer clicks a picture of Clarissa, which makes it appear as if she’s at the police station for drunkenness.
Her uncle, Judge Silas Standish (Lewis Stone), is privately delighted that the prim Clarissa has finally loosened up.
When the real balloon dancer, Sheila (Marilyn Maxwell), shows up, Clarissa is irate when Steve disappears, unaware that he had to hurry home for a council vote. She is unaware that Steve wants to marry her, and cannot wait to present her the key to his city.
This was the final film role of Frank Morgan and Clara Blandick (both best known for roles in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
This film paired Gable and Young for the first time since Call of the Wild (1935), when their tryst produced a secret daughter, Judy Lewis.
Hollywood Scandal
During filming of Key to the City, Gable spoke with Judy Lewis, then 15, for the only time in her life. When she was 23, Lewis’ fiancee told her about Gable being her father. Shortly after Gable died in 1960, Lewis confronted her mother and Young confirmed the truth. In 1999, shortly before her death, Young confirmed to her biographer that Gable was the father of Judith Lewis.
The movie was mildly popular at the box-office.
Cast
Clark Gable as Steve Fisk
Loretta Young as Clarissa Standish
Frank Morgan as Fire Chief Duggan
Marilyn Maxwell as Sheila
Raymond Burr as Les Taggart
James Gleason as Sergeant Hogan
Lewis Stone as Judge Silas Standish
Raymond Walburn as Mayor Billy Butler
Pamela Britton as Miss Unconscious
Clara Blandick as Liza
