Adventure (1945)

While on leave in San Francisco, a rough-hewn seaman (Clark Gable) begins an antagonistic relationship with a librarian (Greer Garson) that eventually leads to love. But is that enough for them to sustain a relationship when they're so different? Based on novel THE ANOINTED by Clyde Brion Davis and directed by Victor Fleming (GONE WITH THE WIND). This is an odd movie to come out of the MGM dream factory. It's an overlong (it runs past the two hour mark) film with almost no plot. There's also a subplot with Thomas Mitchell as an alcoholic sailor who's lost his soul (he broke a promise to God) and spends the rest of the film trying to find it. Gable and Garson, while strong screen presences on their own, have no chemistry together which is fatal to a movie romance. The film closes with a tear jerking finale but even as your eyes water, you'll resent it. There's a gorgeous underscore by that most underrated of film composers Herbert Stothart. With Joan Blondell (in the film's best performance), Tom Tully, Kay Medford, Richard Haydn, John Qualen, Lina Romay and Harry Davenport.