This is the second film with Joan Crawford where she appears to insanely rebuff a handsome and very nice single guy (the other is "Forsaking All Others") for some completely undeserving jerk. Logically, this just never made any sense--a major problem with the plot. After all, who could believe that Crawford could hold a flame for the married Otto Kruger--especially after learning that his wife will never grant him a divorce. So, when she meets rich, handsome, charming and sweet Gable on a cruise ship bound for South America, you wonder what gives--how could she resist his charms and hold out hopes to STILL capture Kruger?! I am about as straight as any guy could be, and I would have had a devil of a time resisting Gable's charms!!
By convention, you KNOW that despite everything, Gable and Crawford will marry by the end of the movie. That simply is how these films had to end back in 1934...period. So, even when Kruger's wife finally grants him a divorce and Crawford leaves with him, you KNOW that by the final minutes of the movie she finally uses her noggin and chooses Gable. There is no other option...and this is a serious problem with the film. It is all just too conventional and too expected. It's still enjoyable and well-acted--but also way too 'by the numbers' to be anything other than a very well-crafted but utterly predictable film. MGM apparently made a bazillion such films...and early into this film you realize this is yet another one of them--proving that in the 1930s America WAS into recycling!
By the way, late in the film I think I may have understood why for so long Crawford stayed with Kruger. In the film, he was apparently a Harvard man--and Gable's character (what a slacker) was only a Yale man!!
By convention, you KNOW that despite everything, Gable and Crawford will marry by the end of the movie. That simply is how these films had to end back in 1934...period. So, even when Kruger's wife finally grants him a divorce and Crawford leaves with him, you KNOW that by the final minutes of the movie she finally uses her noggin and chooses Gable. There is no other option...and this is a serious problem with the film. It is all just too conventional and too expected. It's still enjoyable and well-acted--but also way too 'by the numbers' to be anything other than a very well-crafted but utterly predictable film. MGM apparently made a bazillion such films...and early into this film you realize this is yet another one of them--proving that in the 1930s America WAS into recycling!
By the way, late in the film I think I may have understood why for so long Crawford stayed with Kruger. In the film, he was apparently a Harvard man--and Gable's character (what a slacker) was only a Yale man!!