Over the top melodrama isn't a bad antique but it is an antique.
Overwrought emotions dominate from almost the first frame and only become more hard to swallow as the picture unspools.
Part of the problem lies with Helen Hayes. Perhaps it's partially my own perception having become familiar with her when she had moved into her highly entertaining old lady phase but she seems too old for her part or her pairing with Clark Gable. It doesn't help that she was never completely comfortable on the screen in her youth relying on stage techniques that don't translate well to the movie screen. Her method and Gable's do not mesh and while she's playing to the back row he is his usual low key self, they share little chemistry.
The film has its moments and a decent supporting cast but the lack of rapport between the two leads in what is basically a story of great unrequited love makes this a struggle to get through at times.
Overwrought emotions dominate from almost the first frame and only become more hard to swallow as the picture unspools.
Part of the problem lies with Helen Hayes. Perhaps it's partially my own perception having become familiar with her when she had moved into her highly entertaining old lady phase but she seems too old for her part or her pairing with Clark Gable. It doesn't help that she was never completely comfortable on the screen in her youth relying on stage techniques that don't translate well to the movie screen. Her method and Gable's do not mesh and while she's playing to the back row he is his usual low key self, they share little chemistry.
The film has its moments and a decent supporting cast but the lack of rapport between the two leads in what is basically a story of great unrequited love makes this a struggle to get through at times.