Clark Gable

In Reno, Nevada, Roslyn Tabor (Marilyn Monroe), 30-year-old beautiful woman files for a quickie six-week residency divorce from her inattentive husband, Raymond (Kevin McCarthy). Roslyn says that is she is going to be alone; she wants to be by herself. Raymond had gifted a car to Roslyn as part of the divorce settlement, which she tries to sell with the help of her landlady Isabelle. The car was broken down and a tow truck service was called to repair it and give an estimate on the price. The person who arrived was Guido, who was smitten with Roslyn. Afterward, Isabelle takes her to a cocktail lounge at Harrah's for drinks. Roslyn loves animals and is always kind to them. She is a very sensitive woman, emotionally. Rosyln meets aging cowboy Gay Langland (Clark Gable). Guido (Eli Wallach) and Gay invite Roslyn and her friend Isabelle Steers (Thelma Ritter) to Guido's place in the country to help her forget about the divorce. Guido is a tow truck driver and Gay's best friend. The friendly Guido tells Roslyn and Isabelle about his unfinished house in the country. Roslyn and Isabelle follow Gay and Guido in Roslyn's car out to countryside. Isabelle tells Roslyn not to believe anything that a cowboy says as she is too believing. They arrive at the half-finished house Guido built for his wife, who had died during childbirth. They drink and dance. Roslyn has too much to drink, so Gay drives her home. Eventually, the two move into Guido's half-finished house and start to work on it. One day after breakfast, Gay tells Roslyn how he wishes he were more of a father to his own children, whom he has not seen for some years. Later that afternoon, Roslyn and Gay have a fight when he decides to kill a rabbit that is eating from the vegetable garden they have planted. When Guido and Isabelle show up, Gay suggests rounding up wild mustangs to sell. They go to a local rodeo in Dayton, NV to hire a third man for the job. Along the way, they meet Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift), a friend of Gay's who is on his way to the rodeo to compete. Gay offers to pay for the broke Perce's $10.00 entry fee if he helps them with the mustangs afterward. In a bar Roslyn wins $145 on hitting a Paddle ball continually, she later gives some of the money to the church Lady. Guido, Perce, Roslyn and Gaylord go to a bar and nearly get into a fistfight when a drunk spanks Roslyn's bottom. Outside the bar, Isabelle sees her ex-husband Charles (Philip Mitchell) and his wife of 19 years Clara, she decides to invite them to her home instead of going in a mustang with Roslyn and the others. At the rodeo, Roslyn becomes upset when Guido tells her how the horses are made to buck with an irritating flank strap. She declares that all rodeos should be banned. Later, after Perce is thrown by a horse, Roslyn begs him to go to a hospital, but he insists on riding a bull. He gets thrown again, resulting in a head injury. Later, after Roslyn dances with Perce, he passes out in a back alley. When he regains consciousness, he sees her crying over him. He says that he never had anyone cry for him before and that he wished he had a friend to talk to. He tells her how his mother changed after his father died. She gave his stepfather the ranch his father wanted to leave to Perce. A drunken Gay then fetches Roslyn, telling her that he wants her to meet his kids, whom he unexpectedly ran into. But Gay causes a public scene when he discovers his children have not waited around. Later on, during the drive home, a drunken Guido asks if Roslyn has left Gay and offers to take his place. Back at Guido's house, Perce comes to and nearly tears his bandages off, forgetting about his recent injury. Roslyn puts him to bed. She then sits down with Gay. He asks her if a woman like her would ever want to have a child with him. She avoids the issue, and Gay goes to bed. The next day, Gay, Guido and Perce prepare to go after the mustangs. Roslyn reluctantly tags along. After they catch a stallion and four mares, she screams that she hates the men when she learns that the mustangs will be sold for dog food. She then tells Gay she did not know she was falling in love with a killer. He tells her that he did things for her that he never did for any other woman, such as making the house a home and planting the garden. She begs Gay to release the horses. He considers doing it, but when she offers to pay $200, it angers him. Guido tells Roslyn that he would let them go if she would leave Gay for him. She rebuffs him coldly. Perce also asks her if she wants him to set the horses free, but she declines because she thinks it would only start a fight. He frees the stallion anyway. After Gay chases down and subdues the horse all by himself, he lets it go and says he just did not want anybody making up his mind for him. They get into Gay's truck. As they're driving Roslyn tells Gay: "I'll leave tomorrow, OK". The truck stops to pick up Gay's dog. Roslyn gets out and Gay, his heart melting watches as Roslyn joyfully removes the tether from the dog. Roslyn gets into the truck and Gay says: "I bless you girl" He and Roslyn drive off under the starry night sky.

Days before his wedding, a Philadelphia lawyer travels to Naples in Southern Italy to settle the estate of his late brother, only to find that he has an Italian nephew who is being cared for by his maternal aunt, a cabaret singer. Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, comes to Naples to settle the estate of his long estranged "black sheep" brother. Once there, he discovers that the deceased has left an eight-year old little boy named Nando, who is being raised by Michael's sister-in-law Lucia Curcio. Mike immediately disapproves of Nando's Italian-style (in other words "lax") education. To make matters worse, Lucia happens to be ... a sexy nightclub dancer. This is too much for a puritan like Mike and the only solution in his eyes is to have the boy brought up in the States... —Guy Bellinger

Without a new play and money, a 55-year-old Broadway producer retires, but only then does his 22-year-old secretary tell him that she loves him. He decides to make that a scene in a new play and get her to write it, then play the role. After 30 years of producing Broadway plays, Russ Ward is ready to quit. On being given notice, his 22-year-old secretary, Ellie Brown, tells him that she loves him. Russ proceeds to romance Ellie in a May/December affair and turn this into a hit play. —Bob Lipton <lipton@dorsai.org>

A hard-nosed newspaper editor poses as a night school student in order to woo a journalism teacher who cannot stand him. James Gannon, the hardboiled city editor of a newspaper, believes that the only way to learn the business is by way of the School of Hard Knocks, and has a very low regard for college-taught journalism, so he's not pleased when his managing editor orders him to help Erica Stone, a college professor, with her journalism class. Finding himself attracted to her, he pretends to be a student in her class, not revealing he's Gannon, whom she despises. As they bob and weave around their mutual growing attraction, they gain respect for each other's approaches to reporting news, but how will Erica react when she finds out who he really is? —Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com> The New York Evening Chronicle's City Editor James Gannon is a stubborn self-made journalist that has not even concluded high school and believes that the business is to be learned working in a newspaper office and not in college. He also believes that the fact is more important than the why behind the story. When he is invited to be the guest lecturer in the night-school journalism course of E. Stone, he wrongly believes that she is a man and sends a non-polite letter to her explaining the reasons why he does not want to waste his time. However his boss, Lloyd Crowley, gives direct orders to him to attend the class. Instructor Erica Stone reads Gannon's letter for the class and he pretends to be a student to humiliate her to her class. However, they feel both attracted by each other and Erica believes that Gannon has a great potential to be a journalist. When Erica dates the talented Dr. Hugo Pine, Gannon goes to the same restaurant and disputes Erica's attention with Dr. Pine. Gannon and Erica fall in love with each other, but how will Erica react when she learns that her student is the notorious Gannon? —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil James Gannon, the hard-nosed city desk editor of the New York Daily Chronicle, and E.R. (Erica) Stone, a night-school journalism instructor at a local college, get into a philosophical war of words without having met. He believes that newspaper journalism is a trade that can only be learned through on the job training. Additionally, he believes that people who teach journalism probably have not spent a day in their lives working at a newspaper--E.R. Stone included. He, who never graduated from high school, also has disdain for any of his staff who studied journalism at school. As such, he tersely declines her invitation to provide a guest lecture to her class. Their war ratchets up a level when she reads his letter to her class, unaware that he is sitting there at the time, and has come to abide her request as directed by his managing editor. Because of her diatribe against him, he decides to enroll in her class incognito as James Gallagher to show her up. Their war softens, at least from Jim's side, as he can't help but be attracted to her as a person. And Erica, not knowing his true identity, is enthralled with her new pupil, who is the most naturally gifted writer she has ever had in any of her classes. As Jim and Erica get closer personally and professionally, not only is his true identity a major obstacle in their relationship if she ever discovers it, but seemingly so is Dr. Hugo Pine, a Renaissance-man psychology professor at the college whom Jim assumes is her suitor. Jim might ultimately be able to use Hugo's profession and knowledge of Erica for his own benefit in getting closer to her. But learning directly from her of her motivations in life, based on idolizing a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorialist, could give him a clearer picture of who Erica is as a person. —Huggo

Two mayors meet at a convention and, despite their contrasting personalities and views, find themselves attracted to one other. At a Mayor's convention in San Francisco, California, ex-longshoreman Steve Fisk meets Clarissa Standish from New England. Fisk is Mayor of Puget City, and is proud of his rough and tumble background. Standish is Mayor of Winona, Maine, and is equally proud of her education and dedication to the people who elected her. Thrown together, the two opposites attract, and their escapades during the convention get each of them in hot water back home. —Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com> Steve (Clark Gable) and Clarissa (Loretta Young) inadvertantly get caught up in shenanigans in a series of adventures during a Mayor's convention in San Francisco, California. Frank Morgan is along to keep it light and fun. Raymond Burr tries to throw a monkey wrench into the works. —ksf-2

Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure. Verne (Clark Gable) wants nothing more than to escape from a penal colony located off the northern coast of South America. He tries to involve Julie (Joan Crawford), a saloon girl, in his plans but she turns him in to the authorities. On Verne's next try, he piggybacks on the escape of six other convicts and runs into Julie again in the process. One of the convicts is a spiritual figure (Ian Hunter) who seems to know what will happen before anyone else. The group attempts to travel through the jungle, board a boat, and make it to the mainland. —JeanneArmintrout@juno.com

The spoilt, Southern damsel, Scarlet, spends her life loving someone else's husband, only to realize that her destiny lies with another man whom she has always disregarded.

When Mary's fiance elopes with another woman, her friend Jeff seizes his chance with the jilted bride. Her ex returns, forcing a choice between the men. Dill leaves Mary standing at the altar in order to marry his old flame, Connie, instead. Knowing that Mary still has feelings for Dill, Jeff keeps quiet about his own love for her. —Diana Hamilton <hamilton@gl.umbc.edu>

A Salvation Army worker recruits a suicidal cafe dancer. Cafe entertainer Ivy Stevens falls for sleazy salesman Howard Palmer and jumps from a bridge when he dumps her. Saved by Salvation Army officer Carl, Ivy reforms and joins the Army. When she runs into Palmer she falls for him all over again. Carl beats up Palmer and gives a speech to Ivy which induces her to return to the Army and to Carl.