Susan Lenox <Her Fall and Rise> (1931)

Writers:

Leon Gordon (dialogue)
David Graham Phillips (novel)

Release Date:

10 October 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Susan, an orphan, lives the life of Cinderella with rustic relatives. She escapes one stormy night when...

Plot Keywords:

Circus | Politician | Mistress | Architect | Tattooed Lady

Cast

Greta Garbo	...	Susan Lenox
Clark Gable	...	Rodney Spencer
Jean Hersholt	...	Karl Ohlin
John Miljan	...	Burlingham
Alan Hale	...	Jeb Mondstrum
Hale Hamilton	...	Mike Kelly
Hilda Vaughn	...	Mrs. Astrid Ohlin
Russell Simpson	...	Doctor
Cecil Cunningham	...	Madame Panoramia aka Pansy
Ian Keith	...	Robert Lane

Also Known As:

Rising to Fame
The Rise of Helga (UK)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This film marked the only teaming of Greta Garbo and Clark Gable, when she was an established star and he a promising young actor whom the studio had just signed. Reportedly, they did not get along well, Garbo considering Gable vulgar and he seeing her as stuck-up and remote.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "MGM: When the Lion Roars" (1992)

Garbo Talks And Gable's Got Her

Or was that the publicity line for some other MGM picture with the king of their lot?

Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise is taken from the David Graham Phillips novel of the same name and in this 77 minute film hardly any of the story gets to be told. Probably a lot was left on the cutting room floor of MGM and you have to be able to bridge some gaps if you haven't read the book.

The book itself was published posthumously in 1917 six years after its author was killed by a disgruntled reader of his work. I'm guessing it was written years earlier because it's attitudes and subject matter were distinctly Victorian. Greta Garbo plays the daughter of Jean Hersholt who wants to sell her in marriage to the local lout played by Alan Hale. One thing that was interesting was seeing both of those players in unlikely unsympathetic parts.

She flees Hersholt's farm in the rain and gets taken in by Clark Gable who's renting the cabin on the lake down the road. The romance kindles, but Gable has to make a quick trip to town, meanwhile Hersholt and Hale come looking for Garbo and she flees again.

Garbo gets taken by some carnival people including the wolfish owner, John Miljan, whom she submits to. When Gable finds her, his attitude is most Victorian. In fact the rest of the film through their respective ups and downs Gable and Garbo do a lot to hurt each other.

Susan Lenox is one heavy handed melodrama and no one would remember it at all today, but for the fact it was the one and only teaming of Gable and Garbo. Being paired with Garbo was a big milestone for Clark Gable. Also he was not paying thugs any longer, charismatic thugs, but thugs nonetheless. He was leading man material after this film.

It only gets as much as six stars from me because of the cast.