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Simply Perfect

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's been roughly over 80 years now, and anyone who really likes to keep up with the entire history of film is still wondering how the heck did this dud ever came about. It has a lot of promising elements. It has Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, both phenomenal actors, and John M. Stahl, who's done pretty good films before. But for some reason, they weren't bringing their best to this biopic about the Irish politician Parnell. For brilliant actors, both Gable and Loy are uninvested, and their chemistry is unconvincing. If something like that's going to happen, it would have to come down to the direction of Stahl. He had no idea how to properly interpret this real-life story, which got padded down by too much fluff, inaccuracy, and a running time that leaves you bored out of your mind. And whoever did the makeup job on Gable should've been fired. Yeah, there's some cinematic intergrity to be found here, but for the most part, it was an off day for the talented people at the forefront of this movie. Eh, it happens.Score: 27/100

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.Gable is great. He is handsome, charming and charismatic in his portrayal. The character was ill during much of the film (slow heart rate; bradycardia it looked like). He kept fainting and falling down, and medical science could do little. Heart artificial pacemakers were invented in 1899, and put into use since around 1950. Parnell could have used a pacemaker, but alas, that great invention was off in the unforeseeable future.Gable underplayed the part. As Parnell, he refused to fight certain fights, because of the gentleman who he was. For Parnell, it wasn't worth his valuable time to set himself up for more public ridicule and opposition. That would have meant more strain upon his weak heart, which he didn't need. He also may have had high blood pressure.Anyone badgered and threatened for several years by political opposition is bound to end up with health issues. It was only a matter of time before Parnell would succumb to a life-ending illness. He gave everything to his political life, and he got paid back by extreme jealousy and backstabbing. This still happens today.Edna May Oliver was a blonde here. Curly Jean Harlow? This time, Edna looked almost cute and adorable. Aunt Ben was almost nasty with the character of Billie Burke, constantly browbeating that pestering gnat.Billie Burke was adorable here, and her usually flighty, flittery character with little more than sawdust in her cabeza. This was highly calculated; who was better at this than she? Don't forget that she embarked upon her latent film career after an earlier successful stage career. This was done in order to pay off the expenses of her late husband, that wastrel Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld lost his fortune in the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and passed away in 1932, broke. The Wizard of Oz was soon to become a memorable role for Billie Burke Ziegfeld, and where would we be without that famous pink-gowned bubble-riding Good Witch of the North?Myrna Loy was excellent. Her gowns were charming and beautiful. She portrayed platonic Katie, but in real life the character had three Parnell children while married to O'Shea. It is quite different seeing Loy with Gable, instead of with William Powell in The Thin Man films. I do miss seeing the sweet little dog, however. Besides, Gable was way more gorgeous than Powell could ever have hoped to be.Remember that this film was Post-Code (ending mid-1934). Now, illegitimate children could not even be hinted at. An earlier Gable film shows him as a physician attending a girlfriend's surgery, but in the real story the woman had a botched abortion trying to end the life of the baby.

After a two-month visit to America, Irish-accented Clark Gable (as Charles Stewart Parnell) returns to 1880 Ireland. There, he is treated like an uncrowned King. As you might have guessed, the English oppose Mr. Gable's advocacy of independence for the Irish. Gable is drawn into an uneasy political alliance with Alan Marshal (as William "Willie" O'Shea) and begins a relationship with Mr. Marshall's wife, Myrna Loy (as Katie Wood). His enemies use Gable's affair with Ms. Loy for political gain...This fine looking MGM production is clearly dependent upon a captivating and passionate lead performance from its star. A subdued Gable is unable deliver. Distracting in his fluctuating sideburns, Gable does not excel in biographical characterizations. They should have shipped it to Paul Muni at Warner Bros. Or, made the story more exciting. This is an unexciting adaptation of the Irish hero's life. The romance with Loy is also a bore. And, the direction given by John M. Stahl makes it feel twice as long.*** Parnell (6/4/37) John M. Stahl ~ Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Alan Marshal, Edna May Oliver

When I saw that "Parnell" was coming up on TCM, I eagerly TIVO'd it, as an avid Gable fan and a rabid Loy fan. Plus, it enjoys an infamous reputation as a stinker and Gables worst movie. Coincidently I had earlier this week watched "Gone with the Wind" in it's entirety for the first time in about 5 years. This reinforced my three emotions about "Wind": It's the greatest movie ever made though not the best; It's script is a cloying, almost craven ode to the old South including the racist fantasy of happy slaves "diggin' fo' da South!";Lastly that as great a cast as it has, and how wonderful Vivian Leigh is, Gable steals the picture. He IS Rhett Butler. The film slows whenever he is offscreen, and lights up when he is on. No Gable, and Selznick has half the picture.Having seen "Parnell" (and I made myself watch it twice) I agree with other reviewers that other actors might have been better suited to the script and the director. However, I utterly disagree that that Gable is miscast;He could easily been great in this: He (and the rest of the film)were mis-DIRECTED. I can't imagine how this picture came to completion under the strict system at MGM. Stahl should have been yanked off and sent packing after the first days rushes. Was Louis B. Mayer off somewhere in space? It is the most shocking directorial failure I have ever seen from MGM.Gable merely followed his direction, which I think must have been "Clark, I want you to think of Ronald Coleman underplaying. Now I want you to do it just like that, but think Coloeman on opium....and kinda fey" It is extremely obvious that Stahl imagined this role for Coleman, Leslie Howard, Robert Donat or even as someone else has said, Walter Pigeon. It only makes it worse that that the real George Parnell was much closer to Rhett Butler than he was to the scipt of this piece.Gable, unlike todays leading men, was notoriously not a creampuff. I am frankly surprised that after this thing flopped, he didn't beat the hell out of Stahl. Famously, Gable was afraid of period pieces after this and reluctant to play Rhett. But having now seen Parnell, I believe that this experience also lead him to be wary of "Wind"s first director, George Cukor who, like Stahl, was known for "womens pictures", and summarily helped lead to Cukors dismissal from that film.Having said all this, if you have the chance to see it, do. it's not a zero...maybe a 3.BTW, as a postscript: Someone commented that Gable doesn't affect an Irish accent, which is probably wise....remember, he was the only one in Gone With the Wind without a bad Southern accent :-)