Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 17 December 1934 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Corporation. New York opening at the Capitol: 20 December 1934. U.S. release: 25 September 1934. Australian release: 15 May 1935. 84 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Jeff Williams (Clark Gable) returns from abroad just in time to act as Best Man at the wedding of his friends, Mary Clay (Joan Crawford) and Dill Todd (Robert Montgomery). To everyone's surprise, Dill leaves Mary at the altar. He marries his mistress, Connie (Frances Drake) instead. As it happens, Jeff has always loved Mary himself. Mary, however, has never taken Jeff seriously. Her heart has always been set on Dill. Even his marriage to Connie does not deter her. Dill asks Connie for a divorce and makes a fresh proposal to Mary. She accepts him. This development leaves Jeff out in the cold. He tries to convince Mary she is making a mistake. NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Times Square on 1st March 1933, and ran 101 performances. This was insufficient to put the play into the black. Its star and principal backer, Tallulah Bankhead, ended up with a $40,000 loss. The play was directed by Thomas Mitchell (yes, our Thomas Mitchell). Supporting Miss Bankhead in the cast were Ilka Chase, Barbara O'Neil, Anderson Lawler, Cora Witherspoon, Harlan Briggs, Donald MacDonald, Roger Sterns, Nancy Ryan and Millicent Hanley. The film went before the cameras on 25th September 1934, winding up on 22md October 1934. COMMENT: The play didn't exactly pull in the crowds on Broadway, so it seems to have been a good idea to assign the screenplay to witty Joe Mankiewicz. Unfortunately, Mankiewicz is not equal to the task. True, he begins promisingly enough with our returning hero, Gable, loading Butterworth down with balloons and peanuts; but Mankiewicz's notion of humor degenerates later on into a lot of irritating gibberish from Butterworth and a frilly nightgown for Montgomery. Director Van Dyke does his level best to keep the movie moving, but eventually Mankiewicz's tired and tiresome script defeats him. Forsaking All Others actually ends up as little more than an Adrian fashion show led by exquisitely photographed Joan Crawford. Fortunately, Joan can do no wrong in my book, even in an inferior vehicle like Forsaking All Others.OTHER VIEWS: Here's an old-fashioned new-fashioned play. Or is it the other way around? About fifty years ago, you could say with justification they don't make movies like this any more. But not to-day! Steamy, risqué Forsaking All Others is firmly back in fashion, a favorite on local TV. I'll take bets, however, that no-one is game to revive the original stage play by Frank Morgan Cavett and Edward Barry Roberts. For a starter, we have no-one in the Tallulah Bankhead class to play the main role. Or do we?

utgard14 Mary (Joan Crawford) loves Dill (Robert Montgomery) but he leaves her waiting at the altar and elopes with another woman. Their friend Jeff (a miscast Clark Gable) loves Mary but won't say so because she loves Dill, even after the humiliation and despite him being married to another woman. Why either Mary or Jeff would even want to be around this guy is beyond me but I guess they had to fill time with something.Crawford looks great but her character has little self-respect. I hated seeing her pursue Bob Montgomery's character despite his dumping her to marry another woman. I know times change and all but it taints the enjoyment of the movie for me when most of it is based around Joan wanting that creep back. Montgomery is fine I guess but the character of Dill is a royal class jerk. Gable, as I said before, is miscast. It's just very hard to buy him as the wimpy sort of guy he comes across as here. Rosalind Russell is wasted in a minor role. Charles Butterworth (the vocal inspiration for Cap'N Crunch) is OK as Gable's sidekick. Billie Burke is annoying. It's a weak effort overall but at least it ends right. Sort of.

Jimmy L. This love triangle comedy is worth tracking down for its great script, which is filled to the brim with humorous wit and colorful dialogue that keeps viewers on their toes. (Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay, based on a stage play.) And it certainly helps to have these lines read by the likes of Billie Burke and Charles Butterworth, whose inimitable comedic talents boost the so-so story.Robert Montgomery's and Joan Crawford's characters grow tiresome after a while, but the film is saved by the performances of Butterworth and Burke in their sidekick roles. Billie Burke is at her fluttery best. Clark Gable is Clark Gable: solid the whole way through. His character is the most likable of the three leads, but he drops out from the middle of the film.The plot takes some tedious turns, but the ending is satisfying. I like how the scenes at the end of the film mirror the scenes at the start of the film. While I felt the production overall was uneven, I must say that the script really sparkles in places, setting this overlooked comedy apart from the pack.

ksf-2 throughout the film, all the big names are laughing, joking, playing, having a grand ol time, until every now and then some real life adult situations get in the way. liberal use of backdrop scenery. also a lot of getting dressed and undressed. Miss Joan Crawford (Mary) getting spanked. naughty naughty. Billie Burke with the hair curler contraption on her head. all right at the beginning of enforcement of the film production code, with the official card at the beginning of the movie to prove it. Clark Gable (Jeff) and Robert Montgomery (Dill) keep stepping out of the shower. Montgomery in a dress. Fun stuff! Rosalind Russell and Charles Butterworth ("Shemp"... not to be confused with one of the Stooges... has nothing to do with that) thrown in for more wisecracking. Even the butler gets a couple funny lines. Why isn't this shown more often? and why is it rated so low? Catch this one and see Joanie in a glamorous but not over-done over-bearing role.... before she turned to the dark side...