Artivels Undescribable Perfection

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

MartinHafer PARNELL is often regarded as Clark Gable's worst film. While it is indeed terrible (with Gable being horribly miscast and the film playing very fast and loose with the facts), I have to disagree with Harry Medved's book "The Fifty Worst Movies" and say that ADVENTURE is probably a worse film. He listed PARNELL as one of the top 50 worst, but I found the film to be silly fluff and not annoying like ADVENTURE. Plus, PARNELL was quickly forgotten and Gable went on to greater things, whereas ADVENTURE really helped to relegate Gable to second-tier films for most of the rest of his career (with a few exceptions here and there).ADVENTURE was the first film that came out after Gable was released from military service and after the death of his wife (Carole Lombard). Three years had passed since his last film and the public was itching to see the box office king return. Oddly, however, MGM chose to not only pair him with an actress who seemed nothing like his usual co-stars but also gave him a god-awful script. The public naturally hated the film and fortunately it lost money--proving that sometime the public isn't so stupid after all! What didn't I like about the movie? Well, aside from the characters played by Gable, Greer Garson and Thomas Mitchell, it wasn't all bad--but considering that these are the three leads, that's a serious problem!! All three seemed to have been written by farm animals--they were that poorly written and stupid.Gable plays a merchant marine officer. While this role seems ill-suited for a pretty guy like Clark, it might have still worked had it been written well. Instead, however, he comes off as a 'Jeckyl and Hyde' sort of guy--with two contradictory personalities. One is an obnoxious jerk who is selfish and thoroughly unlikable--especially for a lady with an I.Q. above 50. He's this way through the first half of the movie and that way occasionally thereafter. The other is a lovable rogue--roughly like the same guy he played in about a dozen films in the 1930s. The end result is a guy that is really tough to like--a severe problem in a film billed as a romance! What an idiot...but at least he made no bones about this in the film! As for Greer Garson, like Gable, I love her in films. She was a classy and wonderful actress in such great films as RANDOM HARVEST, VALLEY OF DECISION and MRS. MINIVER. Pairing her style and persona with Gable was all wrong and made no sense at all. What made less sense was the character she played--a 'Dr. Jeckyl and Ms. Hyde' with yet a third personality as well! The first was a self-confident lady who rightly sized up Gable as a jerk the first time she met him. She didn't need a man in her life and was someone you could respect. Then, completely out of the blue, she went from hating him to marrying him--and there is no logical reason for this change. Finally, later after they are married, she becomes a petulant little brat--angry at Clark for being a shallow jerk even though she married him knowing exactly who he was!! What a mega-idiot! As for Mitchell, he's not at all believable and seems more like a plot device than a real person. You can't imagine this superstitious idiot as a seaman and in fact, you can't imagine any religious person being stupid enough to go to a library instead of a church when they are having a serious spiritual crisis. What an idiot! If you get the impression that nothing about this overly long romance makes any sense, then welcome to the club!! It's an embarrassing and boring mess. And, even if you rightly hate PARNELL, at least you can't accuse that silly film of being boring!

bkoganbing In his first film after World War II service in the Army Air Corps, Clark Gable settled down to a familiar character and one of his most familiar directors. Adventure was the last of five films that Gable did with Victor Fleming which also includes Gone With The Wind. This one never quite measured up to Gone With The Wind though.Gable was literally met at the airport by Louis B. Mayer and rushed into this film. It was thought at the time that a film with current box office sensation Greer Garson was a can't miss item at the box office. Garson was coming off an Oscar she received in 1942 for Mrs. Miniver the year Gable went away to war. The results were underwhelming, but seen over 60 years after it was first out show Adventure to be not a bad story at all. Gable fits comfortably into the part of the tough boatswain who loves the rollicking life at sea he leads. No woman is going to be tying him down, not one like prim and proper librarian Greer Garson. He likes them like her roommate Joan Blondell, sassy and out for a good time.But Greer and her notions of settling down with home and family kind of get under his skin. It's what's led many a man to the altar.Gable and Garson never worked together again, probably by mutual consent. Neither were each other's types on the screen and in life, but no one has anything to be ashamed of in Adventure.Best performance in the cast is by Thomas Mitchell as Gable's friend and confidante. Mitchell plays the usual tragicomic alcoholic that he took a patent out on for the screen. Another in the cast and former vocalist with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra is Lina Romay who is the woman we first see Gable with as the film opens. She would shortly be joining the Bing Crosby show as the featured female singer. That 'dame' who gets $20.00 for some conversation is none other than Barbara Billingsley aka June Cleaver. Who'd have thunk that one?Though this one didn't set the world on fire, Gable's next two films, Homecoming and The Hucksters rank in my humble opinion as two of his very best. The King was ascending his throne again.

qblhdon I, also, saw this movie when I was very young; maybe aged 9. Thomas Mitchell (Mudge) thinking (or should I say, knowing) he saw his soul leave him, is one of the things I most remember. I didn't know what "a soul" looked like, then, and still don't. But that really fascinated me.As one commenter already mentioned, one of the most dramatic, audience-involved moments is when Clark Gable performs a desperate CPR on his non-breathing just-born child.I think I grew a crush on Greer Garson through this film. She is beautiful in it.I have to remember to look for this film on the video racks or on the TV schedule.A truly great film!

florriebbc I was 8 years old when I saw this movie and it impressed me so much. I will never forget 3 things in the movie "Adventure". How to hypnotize a chicken; how the water drains out of the tub in a different direction depending on which side of the equator you live; how Clark Gable was yelling at his newborn baby to breathe.It was such a good romance, even to a young girl and I remember how the friend, Mudgin, was afraid of losing his soul. I am 64 years old now and it is still as fresh in my mind as it was in 1946 in Hartshorne, Oklahoma.