Love on the run

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Movie
Original title Love on the run
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 81 minutes
Rod
Director WS Van Dyke
script John Lee Mahin ,
Manuel Seff ,
Gladys Hurlbut
production Joseph L. Mankiewicz for MGM
music Franz Waxman
camera Oliver T. Marsh
cut Frank Sullivan
occupation

Love on the Run is an American comedy film with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable from 1936. The film is the seventh of a total of eight appearances by the screen couple and one of the few comedy roles for Crawford.

action

Reporters Michael Anthony and Barnabas Barney Pells are friends in life and rivals at work. Mike is about to write a story about the upcoming wedding of the millionaire heiress Sally Parker to a European prince. Barney has the rather unexciting task of conducting an interview with Baron Otto Spanderman. Sally's wedding falls apart and Mike hangs on the heels of the fugitive Sally. When Sally confronts her persecutor, the two fall in love on the spot. The two flee from the angry wedding party by plane across Europe, with Barney in tow. Mike has so far kept quiet that he is a reporter. When the truth emerges, Sally is very disappointed and turns to Barney. All sorts of entanglements and misunderstandings later, Sally is kidnapped by Baron Spanderman only to be freed by Mike in the end. They both embrace and marry.

background

Joan Crawford had risen to fame in the last days of silent film and had established herself as one of Hollywood's most popular movie stars in the years that followed. She had already made six films with Clark Gable , all of which had grossed a lot of money at the box office. After a less than successful appearance in period costume as a loyal friend of President Andrew Jackson in the opulently produced film The Gorgeous Hussy earlier in the year, Crawfords has now returned to the present and the arms of Clark Gable. Love on the Run is a typical example of the then very popular screwball comedy genre . The script borrows clearly from It happened one night with its story about a runaway heiress with Gable as an undercover reporter at her side. In line with MGM's reputation as number 1 among film studios, the heroine's flight takes place here by plane and the love story takes place against the backdrop of feudal Europe in luxurious settings with numerous costume changes for Crawford. How the heroine flew across France without any hand luggage, however, transported her extensive wardrobe remains unexplained.

The film was to go into production initially with Myrna Loy and Robert Montgomery under the title The Beauty and the Beast , then with Montgomery and Jean Harlow, and then finally with Robert Taylor and Harlow, before Crawford and Gable took over the leading roles. Production was halted for a few weeks when WS Van Dyke was unexpectedly pulled out to bring the troubled production of The Devil Is a Sissy, starring Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney, to a happy ending.

Joan Crawford liked the relaxed atmosphere during the filming. Even decades later, she told Roy Newquist:

“[…] My first real comedy in ages and enjoyed every moment, especially working with Clark and Franchot. Not a big movie, but everyone who had seen it liked it. "

Theatrical release

The film came into national distribution on October 20, 1936. With a manufacturing cost of $ 578,000, it was a slightly above-average MGM production. He made a very substantial sum of 1.14 million US dollars in the USA, which was an indication of the continued great popularity of Joan Crawford with her fans. With overseas revenues of $ 721,000 and a cumulative total income of $ 1.86 million, the studio was able to realize a high profit of $ 677,000 in the end. Love on the Run was the last sustained financial success for Joan Crawford, which was not done in 1937 among the ten most bankable actors and 1938 in an advertising campaign even as for several years box-office poison ( box-office poison ) was branded.

Reviews

Most of the reviewers liked the film.

The New York Times wrote in its review:

“A really silly piece without any meaning. "Love on the Run" is currently playing at the Capitol with Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone in roles that seem a bit boring. "

Howard Barnes found in the New York Herald Tribune :

“A lot of boisterous nonsense has been thrown together here… .an imaginative and completely harmless story that is almost entirely entertaining and sometimes even really funny. [...] Miss Crawford with the big eyes and the loose hair shows a surprisingly varied and amusing portrayal as an heiress. "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ […] my first real comedy in ages, and I enjoyed the hell out of it, particularly with Clark and Franchot opposite. Not a big picture, but everyone I know who saw it seemed to love the thing.
  2. ↑ A slightly daffy cinematic item of absolutely no importance, "Love on the Run," is currently at the Capitol, with Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone in roles that by now are a bit stale.
  3. ^ A lot of gay nonsense has been strung together ... a fantastic and insubstantial narrative, with the result that it is almost continuously amusing and frequently hilarious. [...] Miss Crawford, of the big eyes and flowing hair, turns into a surprisingly volatile and amusing performance as the heiress.