No Man of Her Own (1932)

Director:

Wesley Ruggles

Writers:

Benjamin Glazer (story)
Edmund Goulding (story)

Release Date:

30 December 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Clark Gable plays a card cheat who has to go on the lam to avoid a pesky cop. He meets a lonely, but slightly wild...

Plot Keywords:

Cop | Cheat | On The Run | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Jerry 'Babe' Stewart
Carole Lombard	...	Connie Randall
Dorothy Mackaill	...	Kay Everly
Grant Mitchell	...	Charlie Vane
George Barbier	...	Mr. Randall
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Mrs. Randall
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	'Dickie' Collins
Tommy Conlon	...	Willie Randall
Walter Walker	...	Mr. Morton
Paul Ellis	...	Vargas
Lillian Harmer	...	Mattie - the Librarian
Charley Grapewin	...	George - the Clerk

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

After filming was over Carole Lombard presented Clark Gable with a ham featuring his picture on it.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first five minutes of the movie, Babe takes a taxi. We get a very clear view of the front hood of the cab, with the telephone number of the cab company. One hour into the movie, Babe calls his wife with his new office phone number. He looks at the dial of his new phone, and gives her the telephone number of the cab company.

Quotes:

Babe Stewart: Do your eyes bother you?
Connie: No. Why?
Babe Stewart: They bother me!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Twice in a Lifetime: Moonshine Over Harlem (#2.16)" (2001)

Gable and Lombard before they were Gable and Lombard

Clark Gable and his great love, Carole Lombard, only made one film together - this one, "No Man of Her Own" - and they weren't even a couple. At the time of "No Man of Her Own," Lombard was married to William Powell, and Gable to a socialite named Maria Franklin. When he fell for Lombard a few years after this movie was made, it was some time before Franklin would give him a divorce.

A mustacheless Gable plays a cheating card shark who, while on the lam, meets a librarian (Lombard) and marries her. He's not planning that it be permanent; along the way, they fall in love.

Both stars are very good and have great chemistry. She's beautiful, and he's just one sexy devil with that smile and the way he looked at a woman. Pretty devastating, with or without the mustache. A great screen presence.

Someone commented that had Lombard not died, she would have signed with MGM and been paired with Gable in more films. It would be wonderful to have them together more than once. In 1937, in fact, when Jean Harlow died during the making of "Saratoga," Gable recommended that she be replaced with Lombard. Lest anyone think that was insensitive - the situation of a star dying in the middle of a film was new to everyone, no one knew how it would be handled, and poor Gable thought he was helping. People back then didn't think in terms of leaving a legacy and last films.

So we're stuck with the pre-code "No Man of Her Own." Not bad, not great, of interest because of its two stars.