Frankly my dear, Warner Brothers does give a damn. To that end, they’re releasing a new box set and single releases paying tribute to the King of Hollywood, Clark Gable. The Clark Gable - The Signature Collection features six titles from the silver screen icon including Dancing Lady (1933), China Seas (1935), San Francisco (1936), Wife versus Secretary, Boom Town (1940), and Mogambo (1953)
The set will also come with several special features spread out throughout the different titles that are sure to keep fans happy. They include vintage musical and dramatic shorts, classic cartoons, and interviews.
Boom Town features Gable along with other Hollywood icons Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr. The film follows McMasters and Sand as they head to oil towns to get rich. Betsey comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and losing it all teaches McMasters and Sand the value of personal ties.
Special Features include the vintage short: Hollywood Hobbies, the classic cartoon: Home on the Range, and theatrical trailer.
China Seas has Gable team up with Jean Harlow to tell the story of the dynamic Alan Gaskell - who captains a ship bound from Hong Kong to Singapore. Gaskell tries to turn over a new leaf from his hard-drinking lifestyle after becoming attached to a refined high class English lady, Sybil Barclay. His former girlfriend Dolly is extremely jealous of the budding relationship and tries hard to get the Captain back. He is apparently unimpressed with her loud, obnoxious, and uncivilized manners, even though she is extremely beautiful. After a temporary take over of the ship by gold-seeking Asian pirates, Captain Gaskell must deal with the fact that Dolly and her drinking pal, Jamesey MacArdle, are implicated in the crime.
Special features include the vintage Fitzpatrick TravelTalk short: Cherry Blossom Time in Japan, musical short: A Girl's Best Years, and theatrical trailer.
San Francisco sees Gable again team with Tracy. The film follows Mary Blake as she arrives at Blackie Norton's Paradise gambling hall and beer garden looking for work as a singer. Blackie embarrasses her by asking to see her legs, but does hire her. She faints from hunger. Nob Hill Socialite Jack Burley and Maestro Baldini of the Tivoli Opera House see her singing and offer her a chance to do opera, but Blackie has her under a two-year contract which she sorrowfully stands by. Later, when he makes up posters featuring Mary in tights, she does leave for the Tivoli. Blackie gets an injunction against Burley, but knocks out the process server when he hears Mary's performance as Marguerite in "Faust."
She asks her to marry him and she agrees to go back to the Paradise as his kind of singer, but Blackie's childhood chum Father Tim intervenes. After Blackie slugs the priest, Mary leaves. She is soon the star of the Tivoli and Blackie's place is closed down. She sings a rousing "San Francisco" on behalf of the Paradise at the annual "Chicken Ball" and wins the $10,000 prize which Blackie throws to the floor. As she storms out of the hall a terrible rumble betokens the famous San Francisco earthquake. Buildings collapse, streets split wide open, the city burns, the army dynamites whole sections of town. After staggering around in a stupor Blackie finds Father Tim and the two of them find Mary at a Salvation Army camp. Backed by hundreds of others, they look out over the ruins which are gradually replaced by the shining new city with a reprise of the title song.
Features include an alternate ending sequence, documentary profile: Clark Gable: Tall, Dark & Handsome hosted by Liam Neeson, vintage Fitzpatrick TravelTalk shorts: Cavalcade of San Francisco, Night Descends on Treasure Island, classic cartoon: Bottles, and theatrical trailer.
Mogambo sees Gable with some of Hollywood's timeless leading ladies Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. The film tells the story of Victor Marswell - who runs a big game trapping company in Kenya. Eloise Kelly is ditched there, and an immediate attraction happens between them. Then Mr. and Mrs. Nordley show up for their gorilla documenting safari. Mrs. Nordley is not infatuated with her husband any more, and takes a liking to Marswell. The two men and two women have some difficulty arranging these emotions to their mutual satisfaction, but eventually succeed. Special Features include are light on this release with only the film’s theatrical trailer.
Dancing Lady sees Gable star with fellow icon Joan Crawford. Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Tod Newton, the rich playboy, discovers her there and helps her get a job in a real Broadway musical being directed by Patch. Tod thinks he can get what he wants from Janie, Patch thinks Janie is using her charms rather than talent to get to the top, and Janie thinks Patch is the greatest. Steve, the stage manager, has the Three Stooges helping him manage all the show girls. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy make appearances as famous Broadway personalities.
Special features include vintage musical shorts: Planet Nuts with Ted Healy and the Three Stooges, Roast Beef & Movies with Curly Howard, and the theatrical trailer.
Wife vs. Secretary sees Gable and Harlow team for the film. Linda Stanhope isn't jealous of beautiful Whitey Wilson, secretary to her magazine publisher husband Van ... until his mother plants the seed of doubt.
Features include the vintage musical short: New Shoes, Oscar-winning Crime Doesn't Pay short: The Public Pays, and theatrical trailer.
The Clark Gable - The Signature Collection is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information. M&C will be posting individual reviews written by Jeff Swindoll for each title in the set.
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