Customer Reviews

But Not for Me [VHS]

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This is one of the funniest movies I've seen and of the thirty or so Clark Gable movies I own is one of the top five to me. Gable plays his age perfectly and the rest of the cast does such a great job at playing with him. The funniest scene to me is the glossy photo scene in Carrol Baker's dressing room, but the wit thrown around between Gable and ex-wife Lilli Palmer is as good as male-female interaction gets in the movies, and lines regarding the "chicago fire..." and the dangers of a women being alone in the park made me laugh hysterically. Wholesome and entertaining.

The film was actually a remake of an earlier 30s film called, "ACCENT ON YOUTH." Directed by a forgotten master, Wesley Ruggles, ACCENT ON YOUTH is a sparkling comedy that starred Herbert Marshall as the older (50ish) playwright, and Sylvia Sidney as his devoted secretary Linda. Marvelous Astrid Allwyn played Genevieve, the other woman--Allwyn, a familiar screen presence in the 30s with dozens of small parts to her credit, including an important one in CHARLIE CHAN'S SECRET. And amusingly Lon Chaney Jr. figured as one of the "young people" in ACCENT ON YOUTH. He wasn't yet typecast in horror parts.

In the 1950s remake, Gable plays the producer and Carroll Baker his young, naive assistant (the names are changed in the remake so she's no longer LINDA. They have a May-December romance that's actually pretty touching. It might be Carroll Baker's best part, she's not straining to be super-sexy nor is she twitching with Actors Studio neurosis. Gable gives anm easy, restrained performance as a man who's always had more sex appeal than he's been comfortable with. Lilli Palmer is supposed to be more Gable's age, and here she plays his former wife with whom the sparks are still flying. The theatrical milieu is appropriately amusing, quips flying like darts, and Walter Lang, the director of such celebrated screen musicals as THE KING AND I, STATE FAIR, and CALL ME MADAM, really knows how to fill up the screen with lively tableaux. The script is by John Michael Hayes, the renowned screenwriter who worked with Hitchcock on several of his best 50s pictures, and of course the original play was written by Samson Raphaelson, one of the geniuses of the American theater in the 1930s. They don't get much more amusing than the tender, rueful, BUT NOT FOR ME. You'll be humming the wonderful Gershwin tune from reel one: "With love to lead the way/ I've found more clouds of gray/ Than any Russian play could guarantee . . ."

Shipping faultless and vhs was in perfect shape. I am a fan of Lilli Palmer and love this movie. Light funny romance. Early movie with Carol Baker.