Parnell (film)

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Parnell
Directed by	John M. Stahl
Produced by	John M. Stahl
Written by	John Van Druten
Starring	Clark Gable Myrna Loy Edna May Oliver Edmund Gwenn Alan Marshall Donald Crisp Billie Burke
Music by	Dr. William Axt
Cinematography	Karl Freund
Release date(s)	1937

Parnell is a 1937 film starring Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician.

It is considered Gable's worst film, and is classified in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cast
4 References
5 External link

[edit] Plot

In 1880, Charles Stewart Parnell (Gable) returns to his native Ireland after a lengthy visit to the United States. Hailed by his people as "the uncrowned King of Ireland," he is hated by the English for his stand on home rule for Ireland. He is arrested for perdition, but is released after the next election to serve in the House of Commons. While he is in prison, Captain William O'Shea (Marshall) and his patron, The O'Gorman Mahon, go to see him in hopes of securing Parnell's help with O'Shea's political career. When they are both serving in the House, O'Shea convinces his wife Katie (Loy), for whom he cares little, to invite Parnell to dinner. Hearing Parnell speak, Katie is immediately impressed by him and after their meeting, he is impressed by her as well. When he is accused of being responsible for the notorious Phoenix Park murders of two English officials some years before, he welcomes an investigation because he is innocent. He then returns to Ireland to calm the people who were starting to turn against his words in favor of action. On his return to England, Parnell is too ill to go to dinner at the O'Sheas', so Katie brings him to her estate in the country. At the inquiry into the murders, a calligrapher named Pigott swears that a seditious letter is written in Parnell's handwriting. Katie finds a letter written by Pigott to Parnell that has the same word misspelled as the phony letter and Pigott is revealed as a forger. Asking to be excused from the court, Pigott then commits suicide. Parnell is then exonerated and has the support of Prime Minister Gladstone, who promises Home Rule. Just as Parnell and Katie are about to leave for a dinner party at Gladstone's home, however, they are served with papers that name Parnell a corespondent in O'Shea's divorce case against Katie. Gladstone refuses to speak with Parnell when the scandal breaks and most of the members of Parnell's own faction turn against him. Fearing that his personal scandal will ruin Ireland's political situation, all but a few of his closest advisors seek another leader. During a heated argument with his colleagues, Parnell has a heart attack. Though Campbell (Gwenn), his devoted secretary, wants to summon Katie, Parnell insists on going to her. A short time later, as he faces death, he calls his men to him and offers them advice on the future of their country. After they leave, he dies, with Katie by his side ^[1].

[edit] Production

Parnell had originally been cast to star Gable and his frequent co-star Joan Crawford. Myrna Loy, meanwhile, was to star in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937 film). MGM literally flipped the assignments as Crawford did not get alone with director John Stahl. Another issue came with the beard that the real Charles Parnell wore. Fans balked at the idea of Gable wearing a beard, and Gable, whose limit in facial hair was his mustache, agreed. It was settled upon that Gable would only have a set of sideburns. As filming began, Gable felt very uneasy with his role, either unable or unwilling to portray the sensitive nature required to capture the character. Loy later recalled, "I learned about another side of him at that time. He was a man who loved poetry and fine literature, read it, and knew it. He would read poetry to me sometimes during breaks, but he didn't want anyone to know it ^[2]." One of the many concerns that Gable had about this production, added to literally everything about it, was the acting that would be required of him to play out a believable death scene. During the filming of the death scene, Stahl put on mood music to help the actors get into character. Gable loathed the music and complained to Carole Lombard. The next day, when Stahl called for the music to be turned on, a jazzy version of "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You," went floating throughout the studio^[3].

Parnell lost around $637,000 in profits and has been labeled the worst film in Gable and Loy's long and successful film careers. Loy said of the film later, "Disgruntled fans wrote to the studio by the thousands--they did that in those days. Some of the critics complained that we played against type. We were actors, for God's sake. We couldn't be Blackie Norton and Nora Charles all the time." Following the flop that Parnell was, Gable vowed never to do a costume drama or biopic again. It was the failure of Parnell that also provided another reason for Gable to be fearful of doing Gone with the Wind. Fortunately, he was persuaded otherwise, and his fans, willing to forget the mishap that was Parnell, quickly embraced him as he moved forward in his career.