Yes, it might be fluff to some, but it is fluff that makes the pillow comfy! The type of film that helped make living in the depression fun, acting like the depression didn't exist, that millionaires never lost their fortune, that everybody dressed in silks, ermine, white tie & tails. Everybody was gay, when gay meant giddy....It's no wonder that Joan Crawford was the biggest female star of the mid 1930's, not a female impersonator who actually happened to be a woman (Mae West) or a snappy little girl with curls (Shirley Temple). She was glamorous, full of life, and someone who rose from poverty to be a beautiful movie star. And here she is, a bride left at the alter by her childhood pal (Robert Montgomery) who nevertheless continues to see her socially on the side unaware that their other best pal (Clark Gable) is madly in love with her himself. Montgomery is instantly unhappy in his new marriage to venomous Frances Drake and longs to rekindle his romance with Crawford.People forget that Joan was adept in both comedies and musicals, not just the women's picture, so this film (based upon a Broadway play that starred Tallulah Bankhead) is overlooked in the history of great screwball comedies. Toss in flighty Billie Burke, droll Charles Butterworth and wisecracking Rosalind Russell (in one of her first films), and you end up with a practically perfect crowd-pleaser that shows us how "Mommie Dearest" was as once as hot as today's "A" list stars and got to the top in a style that can't be copied today.The fun opening credits instantly got my attention with music that made me think that the three stars were going rollerskating. My favorite scene was the one in which Crawford and Montgomery stop by a roadside hamburger stand and Montgomery takes over while the cook is out back. It is a witty moment of rhythmic dialog that is sadly a thing of the past. This scene flows nicely to another great scene with Montgomery riding a bicycle with a nervous Crawford on the handlebars that ends up with a nice pratfall. Here's mud in your eye!

This is one of the several movies that Joan Crawford made with Clark Gable, and fortunately quite a few of them (maybe all) have made it to at least DVD-R via the Warner Archive. This is one of the best the two did together. It's a romantic comedy in which Joan plays socialite Mary Clay, who is about to marry lifelong acquaintance Dillon Todd (Robert Montgomery). Clark Gable plays another of Mary's lifelong friends, Jeff Williams. Jeff has been long away from home and decides to come back just to ask Mary to marry him, unaware that Mary is about to marry Dillon. When he learns about their upcoming marriage he decides to keep his feelings to himself, although the look he has as if having been punched in the stomach when he hears the news says it all. Robert Montgomery is playing the usual harmless playboy character here that he did so much of in the early 1930's. It looks like Mary and Dillon's marriage is about to go off without a hitch until one of Dillon's old girlfriends appears on the scene.This film was released about six months after the precode era ended, so there is nothing really racey going on here. About the most extreme thing you will see is Robert Montgomery in a dress. However, W.S. Van Dyke is the director of this film, and he knew how to combine sexual tension and comedy in an age of aggressive censorship, and this is a fine example of his work. I highly recommend it to fans of films of the 1930's.

And yet another of the film pairings of Crawford and Gable, this time in one of the romantic triangles which became the norm for most of Crawford's films from the 1930s as Robert Montgomery is added to the mix of her suitors. Essentially a will they-won't they situation, for a swift 84 minutes one is put to the task to see how long will it take before Gable and Crawford wind up in each others' arms.This one actually fares pretty good as a farce, mainly because the players make the story work in a light yet believable way even when the story per se becomes somewhat silly and even predictable. Also of note is an early appearance by Rosalind Russell in a short role later in the movie.

A witty film that benefits mostly from the pairing of Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. After a brisk and entertaining first half, things start to drag a bit when Gable is absent from the screen for a protracted period. Nevertheless, its well worth seeing.