I chose to watch Mogambo because it was a John Ford film and it featured an older Clark Gable which I was interested in seeing as well as Ava Gardner. I haven't seen Ava Gardner in anything yet but I've heard of her so many times. At the time of this movie, Ava was Mrs. Frank Sinatra - filming took place in Africa so Frank was apparently on set most of the time. Also, Grace Kelly starred in Mogambo and spent many an off-screen moment locked away in Clark Gable's tent :)
Three things - ONE, Clark Gable looks really good with gray hair :) TWO, Ava Gardner is really not what I would have pictured at all - she is really beautiful, no doubt, but she has a real exotic look to her. Is exotic the right word? I don't know - it's not really. Anyhoo- number THREE is that I'm sorry, but I'm really not a Grace Kelly fan. She's so beautiful but her acting makes me cringe - just feels so forced. What do you guys think?
I was working on the computer while watching Mogambo so I didn't follow it TOO closely but Clark Gable plays a man living in Africa who runs a gaming company and hosts safaris and such for visiting tourists. When Ava Gardner's character shows up one day, I think he doesn't like her right off the bat because she's a woman and surely she has no idea how to handle herself out in the wilderness. She really proves to be tough and they have a short affair before she heads out of Africa. On the day she is scheduled to leave, a husband and wife, Grace Kelly, arrive. It isn't long before Gable develops feelings for her as she is quite beautiful and not altogether too in love with her husband. Oh but WAIT - Ava's boat hit some trouble and she was forced to come back to camp - so now we have ourselves a nice little love triangle that actually plays out in a pretty funny way.
I found this quote that Ava said about Bette Davis and I really liked it...
"Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and said, "Miss Davis, I'm Ava Gardner and I'm a great fan of yours." And do you know, she behaved exactly as I wanted her to behave. "Of course you are, my dear," she said. "Of course you are." And she swept on. Now that's a star"
Grace Kelly and Clark Gable, hmm. I have not been thrilled by her acting either. High Society seemed like a very good role for her - a cool, dignified socialite (that's what she was before career, very natural for her). She did make a convincing princess in her "second career". Gable is a handsome older man, but in the early 30's, pre-mustache - hubba, hubba, drop dead gorgeous! Ava Gardner first marriage to Mickey Rooney!!! That's just nuts!
ReplyDeleteI hope you discover more of Ava's movies. Of course, as the Executive Director of the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, NC, I'm a bit biased, but Night of the Iguana is very good, The Little Hut is pretty funny, and I the Barefoot Contessa is always a favorite and often considered the role that reflected her real life most.
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