Comfort Movie: Love On The Run (1936)

 

After a long day at the airport boarding my grandmother on her flight back home to Egypt, I needed a well-deserved classic movie break! So I cozied up to one of my favorite Gable/Crawford movies ever…Love On The Run (1936).

What no one really knows is that the true star of this film is not Gable or Crawford…it’s Franchot Tone, in his first comedy role! Even the name of his character is funny: Barnabas W. Pells. Tone has some of the best lines in the whole movie, and it’s hilarious to see him get beaten up by Gable every several minutes into the film. Gable is a delight, as usual, with his witty jokes, crazy antics, and of course, he’s great eye candy, whether he’s in a wedding tux or in a silly-looking, weird peasant outfit with Louis XIV’s hat and cape (more on that later).  However, Joan Crawford…just doesn’t cut it with me when it comes to comedy. She seemed like she was trying too hard to be funny. Comedy obviously doesn’t flow naturally with her like it does with her two male costars. Joan should have definitely stayed with drama.

 

 

Clark Gable and Joan Crawford get mixed up in a big mess in Love On The Run

Great Moments in Love On The Run:

*Clark Gable imitating a Russian accent and pretending that he knows how to fly a plane (adorably fake plane special effects go here).

*Joan and Clark trying to determine where the hell they’re flying by looking at the colors of the countries on their map and attributing them to the colors on the ground below. For reference: Persia=pinkish brown and France=a kind of green.

*Franchot Tone and the Baron and Baroness (both of whom are actually spies) tied up and locked in closets, with the Baroness tied up in her shower curtains in the middle of a salt rub.

*Joan pretending to be an ignorant peasant from the country. A chase scene ensues, which causes Joan to tell Clark; “But he’s the man!” Franchot Tone: “You BET I am!”

*Clark Gable locking up Franchot Tone in the back of a stolen delivery truck.

*Clark and Joan pretend to be Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, dance a minuet (which Clark naturally messes up), and get mixed up with a crazy old guy and his imaginary dog. Without a doubt one of my favorite parts in the movie!

*Clark rolling of a sofa and falling square on his behind. Enough said.

*Franchot Tone getting his clothes stoeln by the aforementioned crazy old guy with an imaginary dog.

*Franchot Tone’s corny knock-knock jokes.

*Franchot Tone being held at gunpoint and forced to smile by Russian spies. He ends up looking like he’s having troublesome bowel movements…and he’s thrown off a train.

*Clark Gable held at gunpoint and forced to remove his clothes (sadly we don’t see anything. DRAT those censors!)

Those are just some of the many hilarious moments in a very hilarious, light-hearted  film!!! And I felt so much better after watching it. So. Much. Better.

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