Blast from the Past: Gable Revisited
With this essay, our reviews of all of Clark Gable’s 67 festures are complete.
Following the failure of Parnell, in which Clark Gabke was miscast as the famous Irish politician, he vowed never to do a costume drama or biopic again.
Grade: C (1* out of *****)
| Parnell | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
The movie centers on the adulterous relationship that destroyed Parnell’s political career, but its treatment of the subject is sanitized (and fictionalized) in keeping with Hollywood restrictions at the time.
The literary source was a rather successful Broadway production, based on the 1935 play by Elsie T. Schauffler
No one wanted to see the usually dashing Gable as the Irish politician and Home Rule activist Charles Stewart Parnell. Joan Crawford, Gable’s friemd and frequent collaborator, refused the role, which then went to Myrna Loy. Crawford’s ownn costume drama, The Gorgeous Hussy, was also a failure, in 1936.
Another issue was how much to alter Gable’s appearance to suit the story’s historical period. Fans balked at the idea of Gable wearing a beard as the real Parnell had done, and Gable, whose limit in facial hair was his mustache, agreed with them. He wound up adding only a set of sideburns instead of a beard.
As filming began, Gable felt very uneasy with his role, either unable or unwilling to portray the sensitive nature required to capture the character. Loy later recalled, “I learned about another side of him at that time. He was a man who loved poetry and fine literature. He would read poetry to me sometimes during breaks, but he didn’t want anyone to know it.”
Gable was also worried about playing out a believably the character’s death scene. Director Stahl put on mood music to help the actors get into character, but Gable loathed the music. The next day, when Stahl called for music, a jazzy version of “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You,” went floating throughout the studio.
Parnell has been labeled the worst film in both Gable’s and Loy’s long and successful film careers. Loy said of the film later, “Disgruntled fans wrote to the studio by the thousands — they did that in those days. Some of the critics complained that we played against type. We were actors, for God’s sake. We couldn’t be Blackie Norton and Nora Charles all the time.”
Its failure made Gable afraid of doing Gone With the Wind, but he was persuaded otherwise, and ultimately went on to his greatest success with his role as Rhett Butler.
His loyal fans hated seeing their idol tarnished, and they wrote angry letters to him and the MGM publicity machine. It was Gable’s least successful film, which is generally considered his very worst (listed in the book, “The Fifty Worst Films of All Time”).
Parnell earned $992,000 in the U.S. and $584,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $637,000.
Cast
Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell
Myrna Loy as Katie O’Shea
Edna May Oliver as Aunt Ben Wood
Edmund Gwenn as Campbell
Alan Marshal as Captain William O’Shea
Donald Crisp as Davitt
Billie Burke as Clara Wood
Berton Churchill as The O’Gorman Mahon
Donald Meek as Murphy
Montagu Love as Gladstone
Byron Russell as Healy
Brandon Tynan as Redmond
Neil Fitzgerald as Pigott/ Dr. Gillespie
George Zucco as Sir Charles Russell
Credits:
Produced, directed by John M. Stahl
Written by John Van Druten, S. N. Behrman, based on “Parnell,” 1935 play by Elsie T. Schauffler
Produced by John M. Stahl
Cinematography Karl Freund
Edited by Frederick Y. Smith
Music by Dr. William Axt
Production: MGM
Distributed by Loew’s Inc.
Release date: June 4, 1937
Budget $1.5 million
Box office $1.6 million
