MovieChat Forums > Any Number Can Play (1949) Discussion > Gable in unusual role

Gable in unusual role

posted 17 years ago by kellypaul
2 replies | jump to latest

ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY is a Gable film I can watch again and again.I like the relationships between his character and all the others who rely on him so much. And what a supporting cast - Alexis Smith beautifully playing his wife,Lon (and a lot older than Alexis was). Audrey Totter wasted really, with glass and cigarette as her only identification,plus her torch for her brother in law, Gable.
Lewis Stone, the older gambler down on his luck and relying on Gable for handouts.
Mary Astor,also wasted but wonderful in a bit part as another of the females in love with Gable's character Charley.
Frank Morgan as the gambler who wants to beat Gable at his own gambling tables.
Marjorie Rambeau, a well off,salty patron of Charley's gambling house who tries to set Gable's son Darryl Hickman straight about his father.
Wendell Corey, the weak husband of Audrey Totter who sets up William Conrad to win dishonestly at the tables.
Barry Sullivan as Gable's number 2 and like Gable,playing against type - more worried about his wife leaving a window open at home and catching cold.
All credit to Gable and MGM for playing a man of his own age - late 40s - with a weak heart and family problems. His character Charley is the heart of the film and Gable is very believable.
I like the claustrophibic atmosphere of the gambling hosue and Gable's big mansion - almost like sets for a stage play.
I hope it makes it to dvd soon. so more fans can discover this unusual Clark Gable film.

[–] macguffinlassie 16 years ago

I, too, hope that this one makes it to DVD. I saw it for the first and only time on TCM a while back and was enthralled. I adore Gable and was very taken with this particular performance--he was so vulnerable and so...well, believable in his world-weariness. Very affecting and dark--I wanted to stand up and cheer during the final scene. I thought it a most unusual film and one that I suspect today's audiences might appreciate.

[–] catlady1412 14 years ago

Frank Morgan is playing a much darker role than his usual dithering dumb guys. Lewis Stone is heartbreaking. But Gable is magnificent! He is so underrated as an actor and he really does a wonderful job in this. William Conrad's part as a bumbling gangster is delightful! I was surprised to see "Uncle Joe" Edgar Buchanan in a movie with Clark Gable. Don't you wish the people who worked with these big movie stars had been either interviewed extensively or written their own books? They played the secondary parts with so many of the great stars and had interesting lives, if not particularly famous ones, and they could likely tell some great stories.