Thanks for the memories!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I'm quite an admirer of Clark Gable, particularly in his later films. Last night I watched "Gone With The Wind" for about the 30th time, and just marveled at his performance.This film is one of the few Gable films I had never seen...and as far as I'm concerned, a great disappointment.It's supposed to be a light romantic comedy, but I found it depressing and slightly vulgar. Oddly enough, the movie is about producing a play, and had they followed the script of the play more, it might have worked...as a serious film.The three primaries here are Clark Gable (who is supposed to be old, and certainly acts it; he plays a Boradway producer); Carroll Baker (as the young woman attracted to the older man; too bad...I was just beginning to enjoy her films); Lilli Palmer (as the ex and future wife of Gable; do we really like plotting women?); and then there's the added attraction of Lee J. Cobb in what must have been a disappointing role as a playwright..My recommendation is to skip this one and skip right to "It Started In Naples" or "Teacher's Pet".

But Not For Me is one of the weakest of Clark Gable's later films. It is based on a 1935 Broadway play, Accent on Youth by Samson Raphaelson, the same guy who wrote The Jazz Singer.The plot revolves around a fifty something Broadway producer who gets his batteries recharged when his secretary, Carroll Baker, confesses her love for him. That would do something for just about anyone's mojo and pretty soon they're involved.Her confession also sparks an idea in Gable for a reworking of a play that he and writer Lee J. Cobb are trying to get produced. Baker goes from secretary to star. Of course her co-star in the play, Barry Coe, is not happy with Baker and Gable as an item as he would like to be the item with Baker.Possibly in 1935 the May/December romance bit was naughty, but in 1959 it was pretty old hat by then. Fellow stars Tyrone Power and Bing Crosby both married women considerably younger than themselves during that decade. Gable's fifth and last wife was about 17 years younger than him. And today with the latest tabloid fodder being Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, But Not For Me is really tame stuff.The best performance in the film is from Lilli Palmer as Gable's ex-wife who would like to win him back. Oddly enough she was living some of that same drama in real life. A little earlier in the decade Palmer split from her husband Rex Harrison who married Kay Kendall.According to her memoirs, Palmer agreed to the divorce because Harrison told her Kendall was dying and she did pass away of leukemia within a couple of years of their marriage. Palmer said Harrison would remarry her after Kendall died, but Harrison doublecrossed her.If you're interested in seeing how things worked out for Lilli Palmer than by all means see this film. Otherwise it really is for hardcore Clark Gable fans.

At the tail end of his film career Clark Gable made a series of movies where his co-stars were not in his age group. Up to 1956 his co-stars might have been younger than him (Lana Turner comes to mind) but more frequently they were still in their late 30s to early 50s like Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, or Eleanor Parker. Then, at the tail end of the 1950s Gable made four movies where his co-stars were not within fifteen years of his age. These were TEACHER'S PET (with Doris Day), BUT NOT FOR ME (with Carol Baker), IT STARTED IN NAPLES (with Sophia Loren), and THE MISFITS (with Marilyn Monroe). In at least three of these films the co-star was as big a star as Gable. The exception is Baker, a promising actress in the period but one that never hit the same height of stardom as the others (her best recalled film role was HARLOW - ironically she played a great movie star who had fequently appeared opposite the young Gable). But if Baker lacked the magnetism of Day, Loren, or Monroe, her support to Gable is shared by an actress in his own age group again - Lily Palmer. And Palmer does her job very nicely.In BUT NOT FOR ME Gable's character - a Broadway Producer - revives his career and that of a once prize-winning playwrite (Lee J. Cobb) when he discovers his secretary (Baker) is in love with him, and is trying to keep his latest production (Cobb's recent play) from being discarded as a failure. Baker revitalizes Gable, and makes him think of remarrying. He was once married to his leading stage lady (Palmer) who divorced him because of differences over lifestyle and life choices. Palmer, who oozes grace and charm, wanted a husband who was interested in home life with her. Gable was too into his production and impressario career, as well as enjoying living life to the most publicly fullest. However, as she watches Gable, Baker, and Cobb rework the play and make it work, Palmer slowly sees Gable bending over to make himself seem younger than he is. In fact a running joke in the film is Gable's confusion of his birth date and age, seemingly making it about ten or five years earlier than it is.But Palmer keeps bringing Gable and Baker back to earth about their age differences. When Gable takes Baker into Central Park for a romantic moment alone on a bench, Palmer shows up, and gleefully remembers how he took her there too...years before. Gable does not appreciate this ("Are you sure it's safe to be alone here at this late hour?", he asks Palmer. "You might get stabbed!"). Eventually Gable sees the light...he and Palmer end up together again at the end, her helping him with his various pills in the closing moments of the film.The operative word in the film is charm. Not only Palmer in needling Gable back to his senses, but also (surprisingly) Cobb, as he reforms from his hard drinking failure to his sober success. Even Thomas Gomez is funny in this film, playing a character based on Greek movie theatre tycoon Spyros Skouras. Cobb dislikes money men (Gomez is a potential play backer), and tells Gomez so, saying "Who financed Shaw?" "Who financed Shakespeare?" "Who financed Sophocles?" An angry and fed-up Gomez shouts, "I did!" Taken aback, Cobb asks, "You?". "Sure", says Gomez, "And the production flopped. Why do you suppose I left Greece to come here?"A friendly little film to watch, and possibly a wise one.

One noteworthy thing about this movie is the use of music. Both the title song "But Not For Me" (also used in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral') and "You Make Feel So Young" pop up at various moments to good effect. Both songs date from the 1940s.Any film with Lee J. Cobb is good according to me. And no one can fill out a tux like Gable. There's even a Joi Lansing walk through.This film is somehow a B & W, 1950s version of 'Something's Gotta Give' - aging leading man and the Lili Palmer/Diane Keaton character. There's even a Long Island connection. If that sounds like an attractive idea, then it's worth a peek. Otherwise, the whole exercise will appear impressively dated.