• Home
    • About Hollywood Yesterday
      • Privacy
    • Old Hollywood Book Reviews
      • Audrey Hepburn in Words and Pictures
      • Ball of Fire (Lucille Ball)
      • I Know Where I’m Going (Katharine Hepburn)
      • In Such Good Company (Carol Burnett)
      • Joan Crawford A Talent for Living
      • Unsinkable (Debbie Reynolds)
    • Contact Joi (“Joy”)
    • Quotes from Old Hollywood’s Stars
  • Actresses
    • Agnes Moorehead
    • Angie Dickinson
    • Ann Miller
    • Audrey Hepburn
      • Audrey Hepburn Quotes
      • Breakfast at Tiffany’s
      • My Fair Lady
    • Ava Gardner
      • Ava Gardner Quotes
    • Barbara Stanwyck
      • Barbara Stanwyck Quotes
    • Betty Grable
    • Carole Lombard
    • Debbie Reynolds
    • Doris Day
    • Dorothy Dandridge
    • Elizabeth Taylor
      • Elizabeth Taylor Quotes
    • Fay Wray
    • Georgia Hale
    • Ginger Rogers
    • Glenda Farrell
    • Gloria Grahame
    • Grace Kelly
    • Greta Garbo
    • Hattie McDaniel
      • Hattie McDaniel Facts
      • Hattie McDaniel Quotes
    • Helen Hayes
    • Ingrid Bergman
    • Jayne Mansfield
    • Judy Garland
    • Katharine Hepburn
      • Katharine Hepburn Quotes
      • Katharine Hepburn: What’s Not to Love?
    • Lana Turner
    • Lauren Bacall
      • Lauren Bacall Facts & Trivia
      • Lauren Bacall Quotes
    • Lucille Ball
      • I Love Lucy
      • Lucille Ball Quotes
    • Marilyn Monroe
    • Maureen O’Hara
    • Marion Davies
    • Mary Pickford
    • Mildred Davis
    • Mitzi Gaynor
    • Olivia de Havilland
    • Rita Hayworth
    • Shirley Temple
    • Vera-Ellen
    • Veronica Lake
    • Vivien Leigh
  • Actors
    • Abbott and Costello
    • Barry Fitzgerald
    • Bob Hope
    • Boris Karloff
    • Buster Keaton
    • Cary Grant
    • Charlie Chaplin
    • Clark Gable
    • Dean Martin
    • Desi Arnaz
    • Dick Powell
    • Edward G. Robinson
    • Elvis Presley
    • Frank Sinatra
    • Fred Astaire
    • Gene Kelly
    • George Sanders
    • Glenn Ford
    • Harold Lloyd
    • Humphrey Bogart
    • James Dean
    • Jerry Lewis
    • James Stewart
    • John Wayne
    • Laurel and Hardy
    • Ray Milland
  • Movie Reviews
    • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
    • Critic’s Choice
    • El Dorado
    • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
    • Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein
    • Gilda
    • Grand Hotel
    • Lured
    • Rio Bravo
    • Sanctuary (1961)
    • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
    • The Bat
    • The Haunted Castle (Silent)
    • The Major and the Minor
    • The Naked Spur
    • The Prince and The Showgirl
    • The Stooge
    • The Little Princess
    • The Quiet Man
    • The Violent Men
    • The White Sister
    • Top Hat
    • We’re in the Money

Hollywood Yesterday

Old Hollywood: Movies, Actresses, and Actors

You are here: Home / Barbara Stanwyck / Movie Review: To Please a Lady with Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable

Movie Review: To Please a Lady with Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable

May 17, 2018 By Joi

To Please A Lady (Official Trailer)

Some movies are tougher to write movie reviews for than others. Naturally, I could rave on and on about favorite movies such as Christmas in Connecticut, Top Hat, Lone Star, Autumn Leaves, etc…  I also find movies that I really, really dislike easy to review. In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret – it’s kind of fun to write reviews for the “stinkers.” Maybe it’s my way of exacting revenge for my misery.

Movies that I’m lukewarm on are a little tougher. If something doesn’t really inspire you one way or another, it’s hard to find the inspiration to even talk about it, you know?

For me, the absolute WORST movie to review is the one that stars one (or two or more) of your absolute favorites…. and yet, as a movie, leaves you wanting. You’re left lukewarm and can’t for the life of you wonder where the heat is. When you watch old movies as faithfully and for as long as I have, this is inevitably something you run into fairly often.

The following are some movies that starred some of my favorites (in parentheses) but scarcely scored a 3 on a scale of 1-10 for me:

  • A Farewell to Arms (Helen Hayes)
  • Mogambo (Ava Gardner and Clark Gable) – HATE this movie with a cruel, unbridled passion!
  • The Naked Spur (James Stewart)

Those are a few that come to mind that failed to rock my world, in spite of starring actors and actresses that did. The one I’m reviewing today is extra hard because it stars my main girl Barbara Stanwyck AND one of my absolute favorite actors, Clark Gable. How can a movie possibly miss with these two?!?!

That’s what I thought when I first sat down to watch To Please a Lady. While I have a lot of favorite actors and actresses (Hollywood Yesterday’s About Page will attest to that) – there is no one I’d put above Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable on any list.

TCM – To Please a Lady Intro by Robert Osborne
I can actually remember the afternoon I sat down to watch To Please a Lady on TCM. I had my popcorn by my side, a cold glass of sweet tea, and a cat (Alexa) in my lap. She fully expected a lot from this movie, too (huge, huge, huge Clark Gable fan).

Now don’t get me wrong – To Please a Lady is not at all a bad movie and it’s far from being what I call a “stinker” (here’s mud in your eye, Mogambo), but it wasn’t anywhere near the earth-moving movie that  this Stanwyck and Gable fanatic… or even her cat… expected. Is it possible we over-expected? Very possibly.. which is why I re-watched it a few years later. When I watched it the second time… going in without any “my world is about to be rocked off its axis” expectations, I enjoyed it a lot more. Like a lot of oldies, you simply have to hang on and enjoy the fun of the ride.

To Please a Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck

One of the things that caught me off guard was that neither of the stars’ characters were exactly lovable for the first half of the film. I had a pretty hard time figuring out who to pull for. Least favorite part of the movie? Gable’s character (Mike) smacks Stanwyck’s (Regina). I realize it was a different time then and that some things were perfectly acceptable THEN that make us cringe NOW, but I’ll be honest with you, a man smacking a woman will never NOT make me cringe so hard I can hear my mom saying, “Do you want your face to freeze like that?!” all the way from Heaven.

Had Regina returned the smack, I’d have accepted it – especially if she’d given worse than she got… but not only does she not belt him, she seems to find it irresistible. That seems to be the moment she falls for him. In spite of my pleas, “Smack him! Kick him! Run!,” she just stands there smitten.

Again, I realize the time the movie was made (1950), but still.

To Please a Lady

On to the positives!

While I’m not a huge racing fan, I have to admit that the cars and the racing were really cool. As I often say in my old Hollywood movie reviews, one of the funnest things about watching old movies is seeing the clothes, furnishings, buildings, and cars. They were all spectacular and were a lot of fun to see.

The chemistry between the two stars was pretty special. While I’d like to have seen a stronger movie and story-line for them, their chemistry was very strong and the two of them, somehow, actually make a pretty average script take flight.

I’ll also give To Please a Lady this – the ending was very nice (I love a good ending). It ironically had one of my favorite Barbara Stanwyck scenes (and one of my favorite movie scenes, period), as well – when she’s trying on shoes in her office. The expressions, movements… vintage Barbara Stanwyck. There really isn’t another actress quite like her,  you know. 

They broke the mold with this lady.

If you’ve never seen To Please a Lady, I hope you’ll catch it – especially if you’re a fan of its stars. Seeing two legends starring in a movie is a wonderful thing – even if the movie doesn’t shine quite as brightly as they do.

To Please a Lady, starring Clark Gable

Filed Under: Barbara Stanwyck, Clark Gable, Movie Reviews Tagged With: Barbara Stanwyck, Clark Gable, Old Movie Reviews, To Please a Lady

Beautiful Marilyn Monroe Canvas Set (Amazon link)


Comments have been temporarily disabled, spam was completely out of hand! I am looking for a better plugin than the one I had and hope to have comments back soon. If you have something you want to say in the meantime, my e-mail address is available on the blog. Thanks!~ Joi ("Joy")

Welcome to Hollywood Yesterday!

Ann Sheridan, It All Came True

Ann Sheridan
My name is Joi (“Joy”) and I created Hollywood Yesterday as my personal tribute to Old Hollywood. It’s my effort to help keep the stars from Old Hollywood, Classic Television, and Old Radio Shows alive and shining forever. Old Hollywood was positively magical and I see no reason for the magic to ever die.

Be warned, I am (by nature) overtly positive, I never take anything too seriously, I say extraordinary so often you’d think I invented the word, and I overuse exclamation points to distraction. I’m perpetually over-caffeinated.. we’ll blame that.

Read more about Hollywood Yesterday (and see my personal favorites) here!

Old Hollywood Actresses

Lena Horne, Meet Me in Las Vegas

See the Old Hollywood Actresses page for the index of Classic Hollywood Actresses and Classic TV Actresses.

Old Hollywood Actors

Henry Fonda, Behind the Scenes The Grapes of Wrath

See the Old Hollywood Actors page for the index of Old Hollywood and Classic TV actors.

Old Hollywood Book Reviews

Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel by Christina Rice

I love reading old Hollywood biographies and memoirs as much as I love watching classic movies, and that’s truly saying something!

To see my Old Hollywood book reviews, please see the index listed here: Book Reviews.

Pictures of the Day

Maureen O'Hara, The Parent Trap

Maureen O’Hara

The Old Hollywood & Classic TV Pictures of the Day are published as regularly as possible. If I miss a few days, please just know that the husband, daughters, sons-in-law, grandbabies, and/or my cats were demanding my attention. I’ll be honest, nothing comes before any of them! Not even Maureen O’Hara or Henry Fonda.

Priorities, y’all.

Movie Collections on Amazon

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Happy Heavenly Birthday to the Extraordinary Donna Reed
  • Nat King Cole and Ruby Dee, St. Louis Blues (1958)
  • The Spider Woman (1943): Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, and Dennis Hoey
  • Rest in Peace, Beautiful Gina Lollobrigida
  • Beautiful Rhonda Fleming in a Stunning Promotional Photo for The Golden Hawk (1952)
  • The Wonderful Paul Henreid was BOTD in 1908
  • Judy Garland Behind the Scenes of Presenting Lily Mars
  • Paul Lynde Quote + Under the Yum Yum Tree Pics with Imogene Coca and Jack Lemmon

Movie Night, ANY Night…

John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and Arthur Hunnicutt in El Dorado
Have movie night ANY night with Prime Video on Amazon:  Prime Video (Amazon link)

Thank You for Visiting!

Paulette Goddard and Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times
Thank you so much for visiting Hollywood Yesterday! You truly HONOR me with your presence. ~ Joi (“Joy”)

Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland, The Adventures of Robin Hood

My main goal with Hollywood Yesterday is to keep the names, faces, and films of the stars that mean so much to me shining brightly. When I’m guilty of focusing more time on my personal favorites (such as Olivia de Havilland) than other stars, I hope you’ll forgive me. I am, by all indications, very human!

Also, please know that I try to keep my posts (except for book reviews) short and to the point, so you can enjoy the pictures, grab the information, and get back to your life. I don’t appreciate anything that’s overly wordy, so I don’t want to do that to others. For better or worse, I write as I talk, so if you ever feel like you’re reading the words of someone who’s a cross between Lucy Ricardo, Daisy Duck, and a Jerry Lewis character, that’s just because you are!

Wait. What did I just admit to?? 

Barbara Stanwyck Quotes

Another personal absolute favorite of mine is Barbara Stanwyck. Not only was she beautiful and outrageously talented, she was exceptionally bright, charismatic, and colorful. This growing collection of Barbara Stanwyck Quotes will give you an idea of just how colorful she was!

Old Hollywood Movies

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire Top Hat Cheek to Cheek

There’s nothing quite like watching a movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Whether it’s a Musical, Western, Comedy, Romance, Film Noir, or Drama – if it’s on, I’m not too far away… with popcorn and raspberry tea in hand and a couple of cats nearby.

Below are a few Old Hollywood movie reviews I’ve done on the blog. There are, as you’d imagine, a lot more to come. – Joi (“Joy”)

We’re in the Money (Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell)

The Naked Spur (James Stewart, Janet Leigh)

The Prince and the Showgirl (Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier)

The White Sister (Helen Hayes, Clark Gable)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Russ Tamblyn, Julie Newmar)

Rio Bravo (John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan)

El Dorado (John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Michele Carey)

Rio Grande (John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara)

Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein (What is it With Me and These Movies??)

The Stooge (Jerry Lewis’ favorite Lewis and Martin Movie… for good reason.)

Critic’s Choice (Hilarious movie starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball)

To Please a Lady (Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck team up in a fast track movie)

Grand Hotel (Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore)

Hearts Divided (Marion Davies, Dick Powell)

The Quiet Man (John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald)

More Old Hollywood Movie Reviews

Classic Hollywood Books & Biographies (Reviews)

Maureen O'Hara's Autobiography 'Tis Herself

‘Tis Herself by Maureen O’Hara
I Know Where I'm Going (Katharine Hepburn Biography) and Princess

I Know Where I’m Going: Katharine Hepburn

 

Debbie Reynolds Unsinkable
Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds

 

Ginger Rogers Autobiography - Ginger: My Story

Ginger by Ginger Rogers
Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball

Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball
Vitagraph by Andrew A. Erish
Vitagraph by Andrew A. Erish
More Old Hollywood Book Reviews!

Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge Carmen Jones Poster

Getting to Know the Gorgeous and Talented Dorothy Dandridge

My Lucy Obsession

Lucille Ball

Find out just how much I (truly) Love Lucy in the Lucille Ball category. I’m warning you, I call it an obsession for a very good reason…

Legalities…

Aside from pictures of books I review, I do not claim to have taken any of the pictures on this website, nor do I own the pictures – the ones of the stars or the affiliate (product) pictures.  Other, far more talented photographers than me have the credit for the beautiful photos you see. If you would like credit for a photograph or would like one removed, please e-mail me (joitsigers@gmail.com).

Movie posters and promotional photos are used in the belief that they qualify for the Fair Use law. Fair use is a doctrine in the law of the United States that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public interest in the wider distribution and use of creative works by allowing as a defense to copyright infringement claims certain limited uses that might otherwise be considered infringement.

When you click through an affiliate (product, book, dvds..) link, I earn a small portion of the money you spend IF you purchase anything. This does not cost you any extra money, of course. This is how I am able to work from home and support my cats! – Joi (“Joy”)

Copyright © 2023 | Audrey Hepburn Posters | Ava Gardner Posters