No Man of Her Own

No Man of Her Own is unconvincing and confusing in many ways, with an ending that's absurdly abrupt. Lombard gives it a fair shake, but Gable's performance pales in comparison to his film two years later, "It Happened One Night." The two barely speak, he encroaches on her personal space and has a stupid grin, then she wants him to marry her. She wakes up in bed the night after, but screams in the shower when he enters the bathroom. Then he's picking her up off her feet, I dunno what's going on. I believe she wanted away from her dull life, but I saw no chemistry between the two characters despite becoming married in real life. Is he giving up cheating at cards and getting a real job? Because he already stated he isn't going to do that, but that's what the end implies... and that wouldn't work out very well.

This light drama and love story is based on a pulp fiction novel by Val Lewton, "No Bed of Her Own." Lewton was a successful producer, screenwriter and writer who died at age 46 from a heart attack. He is most known for his horror films, but he contributed extensively to screenplays for some major films, including "Gone With the Wind." Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are cast in their only film together – a few years before they would marry. When this movie was made in 1932, they were married to their second and first spouses, respectively. This story is something of a morality tale. Gable's Babe Stewart is a card shyster who operates a fixed poker game with partners who fleece an occasional rich man. The law is on his trail, but Detective Dickie Collins (played by J. Farrell MacDonald) can't get the goods on Babe because none of his victims will talk. The patsies taken to the cleaners can all afford to lose the $4,000 or $5,000 in each game. And, the partners run such a smooth operation that their victims never suspect they've been cheated. The only way they find out is when Collins tells them about it on the phone. He stakes out Babe's place and watches who comes and goes, then calls the victims and tells them the routine. But, Babe knows that the rich guys won't file complaints because they don't want the publicity. After one particular game, the female member of the group, Kay Everly (played by Dorothy Mackaill) is upset because she's no longer Babe's moll. Babe is worried she may go to Collins, so he decides to skip town for a while. He winds up in the town of Glendale. We don't know where that is, but it must be some distance from New York by an overnight train ride. (The only Glendale in NY is in Queens, but the fictitious Glendale of this film would have been at least 600 miles from New York City based on the speed of train travel in the early 1930s.) There he meets the city librarian, Connie Randall (played by Carole Lombard). She's just been itching to leave her small town. The two fall for each other, but she won't be taken advantage of. On the toss of a coin, he agrees to marry her. They head for New York, and after a time Connie becomes aware of Babe's game. By now the two are deeply in love. When he decides to go to South America with his two buddies, Charlie Vane (Grant Mitchell) and Vargas (Paul Ellis), Connie tells him that she'll be waiting for him. She gives him a pep talk that he's more than a card shark, and that he can be so much more. She loves him and he loves her. He has an idea from that and his plans change. You'll have to watch the movie to see the rest. It's very worthwhile. This is a nice story of love and redemption. As I watched the end of this film, I thought of how any other woman might have reacted – either going along with the cheating operation, or complaining and scolding Babe. But, Connie bared her soul and love for the guy. And, that led to a change and the end of this movie with a warm and humorous touch. All of the cast are very good. This is a good film that doesn't celebrate dishonesty and cheating, or elevate the perpetrators. Instead, it shows the effect real love can have in shaping lives. It may not have started out that way – in the minds of the producers, but it's a good morality tale with a happy ending. Justice is served up nicely.

This delightful romantic comedy/drama was directed with both style and polish by Wesley Ruggles. It also has sharp, zippy film editing, plus a script that observes its characters with a wry sophistication and a puckish sense of observational humor. Gable is perfectly cast. In fact, it is astonishing that even at this early date, we find his forthright acting style and his charming, easy-going movie manner in full flower. Miss Lombard, dressed and undressed to the nines, partners him perfectly. It's interesting that she actually married Gable seven years later (and as we all well know, he never ever, ever recovered from her death in a commercial plane crash on January 16, 1942, whilst returning from a Victory Bond tour for the U.S. government). To get back to this movie, Carole is actually run pretty close here by Dorothy MacKail. Grant Mitchell has a sizable role which he plays deftly. Other roles are also very competently played. The film also has the usual lavish Paramount production values, but these include slick, glossy, lustrously black photography which is most unusual for a Paramount movie. The studio usually favored soft focus and low contrast. Tover's style here was much in favor at 20th Century Fox in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Finally, but not least, I'd draw attention to the sparkling music score which was actually compiled from stock contributed by no less than four composers.

Long before they were an off-screen couple, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable were paired on screen. Once, it turns out, and that pairing (which should have lead to others) is one of the greatest in film history. Gable plays a gambler who gets rid of a mistress (Dorothy Mackaill) and takes a trip out of New York to put some distance between them. Staying in a small town, Gable meets pretty librarian Carole Lombard, romances her and on a whim, marries her. He's already told Mackaill he's not the marrying kind, so when the newlywed couple get back to New York, there is lots of confusion among Gable's crowd who are shocked by his impetuous decision. Gable's involved in crooked gambling schemes, and the pressures of his new life force Gable to decide to take drastic measures to change. Mackaill pops back up to offer her replacement a piece of advice and spill some beans of her own. Before Clark Gable put on his mustache, he was quite a dashing looking young man, and in this film, he is even better than he was in many of his MGM films. It is ironic that away from his home studio, he lightened up a bit, the other time being his Oscar Winning performance in Columbia's "It Happened One Night". The truly likable Carole Lombard is beautiful without being a threat, a young lady filled with humor, charm and spunk, truly natural in her acting style and a heroine you genuinely route for. Many young actresses over the decades have tried to emulate her without success. Gable and Lombard show playful spunk in a scene in the small town library where Lombard works. Elizabeth Patterson is delightful as Lombard's imperious mother, with Grant Mitchell in fine support as Gable's associate. Mackail, once a pre-code star of shady lady dramas, gives her all to the seemingly hard character who can't help but be won over when she sees the truth about who Lombard really is. Real life couples don't often work together well on-screen (most of Taylor & Burton's films) but that is not the case here. Maybe that's the charm that couldn't be repeated in further pairings, so we're lucky we have the one.

You would think that since this is the only film with these 2 big stars it would be a big one...don't expect anything groundbreaking. A Card Sharp has his way with a lot of suckers in the city but a pesky cop keeps on his tail and he decides it's time to get out of town. He heads to a small town and tries his suave city ways on a bored local girl. She sees right through him but she likes him. They immediately fall in love but she wants marriage. He thinks he'll just have some fun but she won't have it. They flip a coin and she wins. They get married. He gets back to the city thinking he'll keep her around for a few months and send her back home. Only thing is, he doesn't foresee her taking charge and loving him...for real. She finally realizes he's a Card Sharp and tries to convince him to stop...He won't. Carole Lombard is as beautiful as ever but this early effort doesn't show what she had in store with the screwball comedy antics she had in store for her later films. This one is a fairly ordinary light comedy/drama. Don't expect fireworks considering the 2 leads and you'll be fine.

The above heading tells the whole story--and because of the great chemistry between Lombard and Gable, you know how it's going to turn out even when things look bad for their flip of the coin decision to marry. CLARK GABLE and CAROLE LOMBARD are clearly deserving a better script than this, but they manage to keep the whole thing breezy and easy to watch simply because of their magnetism. Gable without his mustache still has the famous charm that makes his card shark a lovable enough gangster, and Lombard is a vision of loveliness whether wearing daytime clothes or lingerie or satin lounging pajamas. They both look remarkably at ease as romantic co-stars years before they married in real life. GRANT WITHERS is Gable's friend and has the only supporting role worth mentioning, aside from ELIZABETH PATTERSON as Carole's sweet and fluttery mother. The tale rests entirely on the skillful interplay between the two stars and it's a good thing, because the plot is transparently thin and never really goes anywhere. Directed by Wesley Ruggles, it's a shame the script didn't give the pair a better opportunity to shine but they do, despite the weaknesses of a so-so story.

Both Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were such charismatic and likeable presences. Lombard was a joy in so much of her work and her tragic early death was a huge loss, and Gable was suave and versatile as well as difficult to look away from. 'No Man of Her Own' had an attention grabbing title and the premise while unoriginal sounded entertaining. It was also interesting to see Gable and Lombard so early in their careers together before they became a married couple. 'No Man of Her Own' is definitely worth watching, but there are major drawbacks that stop it from being an essential as an overall film. It is though a must if one wants to see Gable and Lombard together pre-marriage and back when they were still in a way finding their styles, or see everything both have done. A curio if you will, though faring better than quite a lot of other curiosities that vary wildly in quality, with 'No Man of Her Own' is somewhere around high-middle of the pack. Has Gable done better? Oh yes, most definitely. Has Lombard? Yes, though her role here suits her perfectly. Gable and Lombard are the main reasons to see 'No Man of Her Own' too. Gable is attractive, never less than very confident and very charming. It is also difficult to resist Lombard, whose presence is just riveting and so endearing, she has bubbly comic timing and she handles the more serious parts without being too sentimental. They are very at ease together too and gel so well, they could easily pass for a real-life married couple here. The production values are not lavish but they have class. The offbeat parts of the script sparkle in wit and the dialogue doesn't feel too corny or awkward generally with some genuine fuel. Grant Withers and Elizabeth Patterson are every bit as engaging as Gable and Lombard and enough of the film goes at a swift rate. Wesley Ruggles' direction though doesn't rise enough above "getting the job done but routine" level, and although the supporting cast are capable only Withers and Patterson stand out as the only memorable supporting characters. Did find too much of the story stretched too thin, with a few too many all too easy contrivances and some parts are more complicated than needed. The ending also struck a false note, too saccharine and far too pat. Summing up, above average if not much more than that. See it for Gable and Lombard, who really do rise above their material. 6/10

one of films interesting only for cast. the story is a chain of conventions , the dialogs - unrealistic and entire story seems be an improvisation. the good part -the performance of Carole Lombard. the bad part - the end and Clark Gable in a role who uses to much the stereotypes. a movie interesting for the old flavor, for the romance - not remarkable but nice -, for few scenes - parts of the period sensitivity and, sure, for the atmosphere of a kind of fairy tale. far to be bad, it is confuse. its subject is absent, the bad good guy is fake but the desire of team to do a nice comedy is meritorious. against, maybe, the result.

The Hays code instituted in 1930 didn't go into effect until 34. This 1933 movie profited from no Hays censorship. No Man Of Her Own is a wonderful picture. It's sexy, classy and has a touch of humor that had me rooting for a happy ending. Gable, without mustache, plays well with Lombard who is really beautiful and a first rate actress. Gable shows all of the suave persona that carried him thru his entire career. It's been written that at this time he and Lombard had no personal relationship which developed years later. They were natural here and it is a shame that this is the only film they made together. A must see film.

I mainly got this out because I wanted to see some eye candy: Clark Gable and the wonderful Carole Lombard (plus all the wonderful '30s fashions). It's a good screwball comedy, but a little boring until Carole Lombard comes into the picture. I found some scenes unnecessary and a little boring, but there are some genuinely good scenes with Lombard in it - she really is the queen of screwball comedies. Her comic timing is wonderful. I was very much impressed. Clark is as usual very handsome and sexy. I'm not familiar with the pre Hollywood code but I guess this would be fairly risqué as Carole is shown in her underwear. A good movie, nothing special, but fun to watch.