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Above: Joan Crawford and Clark Gable display their famous on-screen chemistry.
"Love on the Run" 1936
Cast: Joan Crawford~Clark Gable~Franchot Tone~Reginold Ownes~Mona Barrie~Ivan Lebedeff~Charles Judels~William Demarest.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Costumes by Adrian
Box Office Figures for "Love on the Run":
Cost: $578K ~ Domestic Studio Gross: $1,141m. ~ Foreign Studio Gross: $721K
Total: $1,862m. / Profit: $677K
If you have seen this movie, please write a review below. Once your review is submitted, I will post the review below.
Thank you for your review on this film.
Reviews
Reviewer: writerdonna7
Stars: Three
Review: "Love on the Run," in the tradition of many screwball comedies of the 30's, has a light, frothy tone
as it tells of newspaper reporter, Michael Anthony (Clark Gable), sent to cover the wedding of beautiful American heiress,
Sally Parker (Joan Crawford). He winds up "fleeing from the press" with her when she leaves the groom at the altar.
Naturally Anthony keeps his identity as a reporter a secret from Sally. Also on hand is Franchot Tone, Crawford's second husband,
as Barney Pells, a fellow reporter. In the meantime, Michael and Sally inadvertently get caught up in international intrigue
when someone hides a map in a bouquet of flowers she is handed at the airport as the pair are making a getaway (a ridiculous
scene where Michael pilots a plane and almost mows spectators down, meant to be cute and hilarious, which it isn't). Now Michael
and Sally are also being pursued by dangerous spies along with reporters.
To be honest, Preston Sturges it ain't. Curiously, although Gable and Crawford are usually combustible on film, here their
fabled chemistry is often just not happening, maybe because so much of the film feels forced. It does surface in moments as
when Crawford and Gable look at each other and say, "Hello" at one point, both glowing -- that moment alone drips
with genuine warmth and sexual sparks. But the script too often descends into silliness and contrived, strained humor as
when they break into Fountainebleau Place to hide out and meet the dotty caretaker who thinks they are the ghosts of Louis
XIV and Mme. de Maintenon. There's also a moment where Crawford conveniently finds costumes in the back of a getaway car,
giving her the opportunity to change into a glittering Adrian gown. But, at the same time, it's all pleasant enough.
Crawford looks beautiful, in spite of her fluffy hairdo. To be honest, in the latter half of the film, some of her clothes
were so dazzling, they became worth the price of admission alone. Let's face it -- at this high-glamour phase of Crawford's
career, it's greatly about the clothes and her dazzling looks. Give in to it; she had panache like no one's business. One
suit, in fact, went from incredible to more incredible, fitting her like a glove and with a jaunty hat with a feather and
sunglasses, it was one of Hollywood's truly great iconic moments. Where do you see glamour like that anymore? Nowhere! With
such moments and a general tone of lightness and fun, it is a worthwhile enough diversion. Not the best of the 30's screwball
comedies, but respectable. See it to further appreciate Crawford as a glamorous screen icon, the likes of which we'll never
see again.
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