Producer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Copyright 16 November 1936 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Corporation. New York opening at the Capitol: 27 November 1936. Australian release: January 1937. 8 reels. 81 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Two rival newspapermen (Clark Gable and Franchot Tone) pursue a scatty American heiress (Joan Crawford) halfway across Europe. Their romantic misadventures are curtailed by an encounter with a German spy (Reginald Owen) who kidnaps the unfortunate rich girl. The reporters, each in their own way, set out to rescue her. COMMENT: This M-G-M attempt to cash in on the success of It Happened One Night looks as if it was shot on the run too. Back at his home studio, Gable is playing the hard-bitten reporter once more, while this time Joan Crawford assumes the Claudette Colbert role of the escaping-from-an-unwanted-marriage heiress. No doubt to forestall any Columbia claim for outright plagiarism, Metro has been forced to make the situations far more outlandish, complete with a brace of comic-opera spies plus a competitive "buddy" for the reporter. As a result, a good deal of the humor seems rather forced--a problem often intensified by the players themselves who try to make up in aggressive delivery what the script often lacks in genuine wit. Nonetheless, Gable manages to impress his usual creditable performance upon his characterization of the fast-talking, double-crossing reporter (we like the scene where he dances and fools around in period costume). Crawford looks beautiful and acts adequately. Tone is wasted. He really hasn't much to do. He's just a foil. A fine assemblage of support players is also on hand, led by Reginald Owen as the bogus baron, Donald Meek as a loony caretaker, and Billy Gilbert as a put-wise headwaiter. Oddly, Love on the Run lacks Director Van Dyke's usual skilful polish. The film editor should be congratulated for the clever job he often does in disguising some very clumsy camera set-ups-including a crowded tracking shot that Van Dyke went ahead and printed anyway, even though it missed the marks for Mona Barrie and Reg Owen! (Now there's a wonderful example of his penchant for hasty and just tear-ahead shooting). The film was produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Two or three particularly snappy rejoinders in the dialogue were no doubt contributed by him. And maybe he did a lot more. It wouldn't surprise me if producer and writers made up the script as the film rolled along. It certainly sounds that way. A lot of money has been expended on the movie. The sets look astoundingly (but attractively) lavish, and there's a nice music score too (including the song, "Gone"). Doubtless owing to the director's insistence on celerity, Marsh's lighting photography, however, is less artistically stylish than his customary approach.

Love On The Run is yet another example of Louis B. Mayer trying to cash in on the success that eluded him when he 'punished' Clark Gable by sending him to Columbia Pictures for a minor comedy that turned out to be It Happened One Night. For the rest of the decade Hollywood saturated the American public with madcap heiress stories.When you've got one of the leading players under contract to you however it's a bit easier. Gable is given a rival reporter to contend with in Love On The Run in the person of Joan Crawford's real life husband, Franchot Tone. These two room together, but are ready to do everything short of cutting each other's throats to scoop the other.Two stories that they are both assigned to cover, heiress Joan Crawford's wedding to a prince, Ivan Lebedeff, and a trans-European flight by Baron Reginald Owen get mixed up together as Crawford gets cold feet and Owen turns out to be an international spy.Gable and Crawford have done it all before, especially Gable. But I kind of feel sorry for Franchot Tone. If he wasn't in a dinner jacket in his MGM parts he was in a film like this, essentially playing the Ralph Bellamy role. It's a very one sided rivalry Gable and Tone have. It's like the Yankees and Red Sox of the last century with the Yankees constantly coming out on top. No wonder Tone left MGM to try for better acting roles. At MGM he showed what he could do in films like Mutiny on the Bounty and Three Comrades, but even these were in support of bigger stars.There's some nice performances in the cast from Mona Barrie as Owen's wife, Donald Meek as a most eccentric caretaker and William Demarest as Gable's editor. But no new ground was broken here.

Everything about LOVE ON THE RUN is derivative. It seems like a reincarnation of Gable's role in "It Happened One Night" with him as a newspaper reporter passing himself off as a friend to runaway heiress JOAN CRAWFORD.It's a bumpy ride most of the way, but there is one exceptionally funny scene in the palace at Fontainbleu involving a batty caretaker (DONALD MEEK) who thinks Gable and Crawford are ghosts and wants to give Gable a tip on his minuet style. He joins forces with Crawford for a charming bit of physical comedy--and then sadly disappears from much of the plot.CLARK GABLE and JOAN CRAWFORD both exhibit comic ability, with Gable especially amusing in that minuet sequence. FRANCHOT TONE is Gable's rival reporter, always falling for Gable's con man tricks. But their material is thin--and rehashed from dozens of other films the two made either apart or together. Crawford is a harder, edgier version of the runaway gal Claudette Colbert played in "It Happened One Night".Crawford looks at the peak of her photogenic charm and her chemistry with both stars is excellent.But overall, it's just another screwball comedy about a runaway heiress and her vexation over being deceived by newspaper reporters.

Enjoyable piece as society dame falls for reporter in disguise. Road trip is a tad contrived, something about spies and secret plans, but who cares - this movie is powered by the sparks flying between Crawford and Gable. Sidekick Tone is great as the wisecracking nuisance.