Product Details

• Actors: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow
• Directors: Clarence Brown, Errol Taggart, George Sidney, Hugh Harman, Jack Conway
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Run Time: 616 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000F7CMRC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,274 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Clark Gable - The Signature Collection (Dancing Lady / China Seas / San Francisco / Wife vs. Secretary / Boom Town / Mogambo)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/20/2006

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Golden Age actor gets the DVD set he deserves, July 27, 2006

By 

Stephen H. Wood "Film scholar and vintage mov... (South San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clark Gable - The Signature Collection (Dancing Lady / China Seas / San Francisco / Wife vs. Secretary / Boom Town / Mogambo) (DVD)

Clark Gable is my favorite actor of all time, so the DVD boxed set, CLARK GABLE: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION, from Warner Home Video is destined to be an often-played favorite. Gable made his first movie in 1931 and his last in 1961; this boxed set goes from 1933-1953. Included are six movie treasures: DANCING LADY (1933), CHINA SEAS (1935), WIFE VS. SECRETARY and SAN FRANCISCO (both 1936), BOOM TOWN (1940), and MOGAMBO (1953).

DANCING LADY is a Joan Crawford vehicle, with a young Clark Gable and Franchot Tone as the men she chooses between. We are in the Depression era Manhattan show business world, with Gable as a play director and Tone a millionaire playboy financing the show. Fred Astaire makes his film debut as himself, and Nelson Eddy and The Three Stooges have cameo roles. Bonuses are two Three Stooges shorts and a theatrical trailer.

CHINA SEAS is a "guilty pleasure" for director Tay Garnett. Gable plays a ship captain who does not know that his Hong Kong-to-Singapore voyage includes a gold shipment and Chinese coolies. The dream supporting cast includes Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery (re-united from DINNER AT EIGHT), a young Rosalind Russell, C. Aubrey Smith, and Lewis Stone. Bonuses are a color travelogue, a musical short, and a theatrical trailer.

Clarence Brown's WIFE VS. SECRETARY has Clark Gable married to Myrna Loy and boss to Jean Harlow. In a lovely movie, each woman respects the other. This is at least the fourth movie that Gable and Harlow made together; they were very popular. A young James Stewart plays Harlow's boyfriend and fifty years later still fondly remembered a passionate kiss they shared. Big bonuses here are a musical short, a theatrical trailer, and an Oscar-winning "Crime Does Not Pay" short.

An all-time favorite of mine, SAN FRANCISCO has been remastered to make its incomparable 1906 earthquake climax really something. But even without the bravura climax, we still have Barbary Coast joint owner Gable competing with wealthy uptown Jack Holt for Jeanette MacDonald as a singer. As a generic priest, Spencer Tracy got the Oscar nomination that should have gone to Gable's memorable Blackie Norton. The finale gives me goosebumps; curiously, one of the bonuses is an even more effective alternate ending. Other bonuses on this masterpiece are two Techicolor travelogues of the 1939 Treasure Island World's Fair, and a 45 minute TNT documentary on Gable's career and life. The first night you do this boxed set, start with this documentary as an overview.

Another "guilty pleasure", BOOM TOWN has a cast to die for--Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy again, this time as oil wildcatters, and Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr as their women. The supporting cast of this Jack Conway-directed gem includes Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill, and Chill Wills. Bonuses are a color cartoon, a B&W documentary short, and a theatrical trailer.

John Lee Mahin was one of Clark Gable's favorite screenwriters. Mahin wrote BOOM TOWN, eight years earlier wrote RED DUST (1932), and in 1953 did MOGAMBO, the Technicolor remake of RED DUST. I like RED DUST more because of Jean Harlow, but Gable is wonderfully cast as a big game hunter in Africa in John Ford's MOGAMBO. Filmed on location with gorgeous color, this is a love triangle between Broadway showgirl Ava Gardner (in the Harlow role) and married Grace Kelly (in the Mary Astor role). Romance and adventure blend superbly in a superbly cast movie. The distinguished cinematographers are Robert Surtees and David Lean's Freddie Young. The sole bonus here is a theatrical trailer.

I know, where are GONE WITH THE WIND and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY? GWTW is literally its own boxed set now, and I added BOUNTY from old videocassette. It is the greatest sea adventure of all time, impeccable cast, and superbly edited by Margaret Booth; I recommend it highly. As for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT one year earlier, wrong studio. I don't believe Warner Home Video has access to Columbia releases. But picky, picky! You get six wonderful Clark Gable movie gems with a lot of bonuses, and you still watch more. Then go rent or buy BOUNTY and NIGHT! And THE MISFITS (1961), for that matter. And also buy the new 4-disk GWTW. Warners' CLARK GABLE: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION is impeccable and gets my highest DVD boxed set rating.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The King, November 6, 2007

By 

Claude L. James - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clark Gable - The Signature Collection (Dancing Lady / China Seas / San Francisco / Wife vs. Secretary / Boom Town / Mogambo) (DVD)

These movies of Clark Gable are a great reminder of how great an actor
this gentleman was. He was an inspiration to every young boy growing
up in the 30's, 40's snd 50's I was fortunate enough to have met him
and can honestly say that he was an extremely kind and sincere person.
There aren't any actors today that can ever match up to his acting or
charisma on the screen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gable was called the King, July 19, 2010

By 

Douglas M - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clark Gable - The Signature Collection (Dancing Lady / China Seas / San Francisco / Wife vs. Secretary / Boom Town / Mogambo) (DVD)

Clark Gable is maybe the best example of that hard-to-define star quality being the premier requirement for stardom on the screen. He had screen magnetism in spades. This collection of films is a very good sample of his work at MGM, the studio who groomed him to stardom and helped him sustain it for more than 20 years. Gable was also a star who was always paired with a female of equal status and the set also showcases these woman. Here is what you get -

- the earliest film in the set is the 1933 Joan Crawford musical "Dancing Lady", MGM's answer to Warner Bothers smash "42nd Street". Gable costars as the stage director. This was not a part he wanted to do and he is sullen but the chemistry with Crawford is palpable. As a musical, the film is better than average but not as good as the Warner's equivalents, if only because Crawford makes a dubious musical comedy actress.
- In 1935, with MGM at the height of its star power, "Wife Versus Secretary" gives Gable 2 leading ladies, Myrna Loy, the screen's perfect wife, and sexy Jean Harlow, miscast as an indispensible secretary. This is the weakest film in the set, a typical Mills and Boons glamorous and completely artificial story with Gable overacting with a vengeance.
- also in 1935, MGM released the blockbuster "China Seas", a high adventure melodrama set in the Orient. This one has the lot. It is funny (Jean Harlow at her raunchy best), corny (Rosalind Russell overdoing her English Milady)and exciting (a storm at sea). Gable is perfectly cast as the macho hero, trading insults with Harlow while tangling with crook Wallace Beery.
- In 1936, Gable, against his will, supported musical Jeanette MacDonald in another large scale blockbuster, the superb "San Francisco". Gable's chemistry with MacDonald, whom he reportedly did not like, is shaky but the special effects and sheer entertainment on view make this a memorable film.
- By 1940, Gable had been paired with Spencer Tracy a number of times in "buddy" movies. Tracy was a better actor but he brought the best out in Gable and they are both superb as oilmen, sparring and making up as they develop their business. This one has charming Claudette Colbert as Gable's wife and the unusual and modern Hedy Lamarr as his temporary mistress. The film is overlong but great entertainment.
- The last film in the set, the technicolour adventure "Mogambo", was released in 1953. Gable has obviously aged as an African hunter on safari but he is paired well with Ava Gardner, though Grace Kelly is hopeless as the third side of the triangle.

The prints of all the films are good with the exception of "Wife Versus Secretary" which is very poor. All the theatrical trailers are included and there are some variable extras including a couple of 3 Stooges shorts. By far, the best extra is the documentary "Tall Dark and Handsome", a TCM doco on Gable's life with some important participants, including his daughter Judy, born out of wedlock to Loretta Young.

The DVD is good value.