Chained

Chained was the fourth film that paired Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, the fourth of eight. It's basically a piece of romantic fluff with no great strain on either star. Clark Gable was the leading man Joan did the most films and vice versa.

Crawford is the well kept mistress of Otto Kruger who would like to marry her, but his wife Marjorie Gateson won't let him go without breaking him in alimony and child support. After making that abundantly clear to Crawford and Kruger, Joan goes off on a South American cruise where she runs into rancher Clark Gable who has a nice size spread on the Pampas.

Nothing terribly original in Chained, it's your basic romantic triangle film. What got me about it after seeing is how terribly terribly civilized everyone is behaving, even Gateson after a fashion. There are few enough Hollywood films where Kruger's character would invite Gable to have breakfast with him and Joan knowing full well he's there to take her away.

Anyone who's familiar with Hollywood romances in the days of the big studios knows full well how this is going to turn out. Chained is a pleasant enough romance to satisfy the fans of Gable and Crawford.