Chained (1934)
*** (out of 4)
Predictable soap from MGM has Joan Crawford playing a heartbroken woman who takes a cruise to try and relieve her of the pain of her lover (Otto Kruger) being rejected by his wife when he asked for a divorce. On the cruise she is pursued by another man (Clark Gable) and the two begin to have feelings for one another but she decides to stay true to the man she left behind. If you're looking for something original or fresh then you'd be best to look somewhere else as this film isn't either of those things. The movie is incredibly predictable and there's not a single thing that happens that you won't see coming from a mile away but if you're watching this movie it's more than likely to see Crawford and Gable and the two are so good here that it makes the thing worth sitting through. Great actors can pull off just about anything and both Crawford and Gable are very good here but there's obviously something else going on. You can just tell that the two have some wonderfully chemistry and it really seems as if they're having the time of their lives together. Just take a look at a sequence where they're speed walking around the boat. The laughs they share certainly appear to be very real. There's's another wonderful scene in a swimming pool. The two stars certainly have enough sex appeal to carry the film and they do just that. They work the romance well, the drama well and they even manage to be quite funny. Kruger turns in a fine performance as well even though the screenplay does him no favors. We get a nice supporting performance by Stuart Erwin, Una O'Connor (THE INVISIBLE MAN) and we quickly see a young Mickey Rooney during the pool sequence. If you pause and think about the movie too much you'll realize that the Crawford character really isn't that good of a person considering she's spending her time with a married man and then when she ends up marrying him she just turns around and cheats on him. The film never makes her character look bad for this obviously because it's Crawford. With that said, it's best to just turn your brain off and enjoy the two legends and the fireworks they bring.
*** (out of 4)
Predictable soap from MGM has Joan Crawford playing a heartbroken woman who takes a cruise to try and relieve her of the pain of her lover (Otto Kruger) being rejected by his wife when he asked for a divorce. On the cruise she is pursued by another man (Clark Gable) and the two begin to have feelings for one another but she decides to stay true to the man she left behind. If you're looking for something original or fresh then you'd be best to look somewhere else as this film isn't either of those things. The movie is incredibly predictable and there's not a single thing that happens that you won't see coming from a mile away but if you're watching this movie it's more than likely to see Crawford and Gable and the two are so good here that it makes the thing worth sitting through. Great actors can pull off just about anything and both Crawford and Gable are very good here but there's obviously something else going on. You can just tell that the two have some wonderfully chemistry and it really seems as if they're having the time of their lives together. Just take a look at a sequence where they're speed walking around the boat. The laughs they share certainly appear to be very real. There's's another wonderful scene in a swimming pool. The two stars certainly have enough sex appeal to carry the film and they do just that. They work the romance well, the drama well and they even manage to be quite funny. Kruger turns in a fine performance as well even though the screenplay does him no favors. We get a nice supporting performance by Stuart Erwin, Una O'Connor (THE INVISIBLE MAN) and we quickly see a young Mickey Rooney during the pool sequence. If you pause and think about the movie too much you'll realize that the Crawford character really isn't that good of a person considering she's spending her time with a married man and then when she ends up marrying him she just turns around and cheats on him. The film never makes her character look bad for this obviously because it's Crawford. With that said, it's best to just turn your brain off and enjoy the two legends and the fireworks they bring.