Film Friday: No Man of Her Own (1932)
For this week's «Film Friday,» I initially thought of writing about a June Allyson picture, since today is her 99th birthday. But then I realized that I have already written about quite a few of her films, so I decided to honour instead Carole Lombard's 108th birthday, which was yesterday, by telling you about one of the first films that I saw her in. This also happens to be the picture that introduced her to her future husband, Clark Gable. Directed by Wesley Ruggles, No Man of Her Own (1932) concerns Jerry «Babe» Stewart (Clark Gable), a smooth conman who swindles wealthy executives in rigged card games. When his ex-mistress, Kay Everly (Dorothy Mackaill), threatens to expose him, Babe leaves New York for the small town of Glendale. There, he becomes infatuated with the local librarian, Connie Randall (Carole Lombard), who is bored with her life and desperate to escape her stifling environment. Babe pretends to be a wealthy businessman to impress Connie, but she refuses his ...