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.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Chained was the fourth film that paired Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, the fourth of eight. It's basically a piece of romantic fluff with no great strain on either star. Clark Gable was the leading man Joan did the most films and vice versa.Crawford is the well kept mistress of Otto Kruger who would like to marry her, but his wife Marjorie Gateson won't let him go without breaking him in alimony and child support. After making that abundantly clear to Crawford and Kruger, Joan goes off on a South American cruise where she runs into rancher Clark Gable who has a nice size spread on the Pampas. Nothing terribly original in Chained, it's your basic romantic triangle film. What got me about it after seeing is how terribly terribly civilized everyone is behaving, even Gateson after a fashion. There are few enough Hollywood films where Kruger's character would invite Gable to have breakfast with him and Joan knowing full well he's there to take her away.Anyone who's familiar with Hollywood romances in the days of the big studios knows full well how this is going to turn out. Chained is a pleasant enough romance to satisfy the fans of Gable and Crawford.

Diane Lovering (Joan Crawford) is about to win the lottery by wresting away ocean liner CEO Richard Field (Otto Kruger) from his harridan spouse who refuses to give him a divorce. Needing more time to convince his wife otherwise he sends Diane on a lengthy cruise replete with maid and a stateroom the size of a small cafeteria. On board she meets Mike Bradley a rancher in Argentina who attempts to romance her. After slowly wearing Diane down she resolves to return to the states and break it off with Field but when she sees what the tycoon has sacrificed for her she goes through with the marriage. Wealthy beyond her wildest dreams and loved by a decent man she is still nagged by her decision when she bumps into Bradley at a gun store a year later.Gable and Crawford never looked better in this above average entry of their numerous teamings together. In more than one scene we are treated to cinematographer George Folsey's cameras warm embrace of the handsome Gable and radiant Crawford offering concrete evidence of the icons they were and remain. The star wattage however is dimmed by the rational and civil discourse displayed by Field who maintains decorum throughout even in the face of possibly losing his new wife to Bradley. In addition Diane for a good chunk of the film has to check her passion as she attempts to keep Bradley at arm's length. But whether in conversation or a clinch these two sharing the screen together constantly reinforce Norma Desmond's Sunset Boulevard declaration about pictures with matchless chemistry.Crawford, more restrained, sophisticated and understanding than in most of her roles gives one of the better performances of her career. Garbo director Clarence Brown might have had some influence in toning her performance down but for the most part he maintains a steady framing of the two leads struggling with coitus interruptus.Otto Kruger as Field is decent and noble in the face of the calamity he faces, maybe too much to the film's detriment. Stu Erwin is annoying as Mike's flunky while Oona Mundsin as Diane's maid casts more glances than dialogue. There are brief moments of ethnic insensitivity with some at the expense of Akim Tamiroff who nevertheless gets the biggest laugh in this otherwise well mannered and tame romantic melodrama that succeeds solely on the merit of its well showcased charismatic leads at the top of their game.

Chained (1934)*** (out of 4) Predictable soap from MGM has Joan Crawford playing a heartbroken woman who takes a cruise to try and relieve her of the pain of her lover (Otto Kruger) being rejected by his wife when he asked for a divorce. On the cruise she is pursued by another man (Clark Gable) and the two begin to have feelings for one another but she decides to stay true to the man she left behind. If you're looking for something original or fresh then you'd be best to look somewhere else as this film isn't either of those things. The movie is incredibly predictable and there's not a single thing that happens that you won't see coming from a mile away but if you're watching this movie it's more than likely to see Crawford and Gable and the two are so good here that it makes the thing worth sitting through. Great actors can pull off just about anything and both Crawford and Gable are very good here but there's obviously something else going on. You can just tell that the two have some wonderfully chemistry and it really seems as if they're having the time of their lives together. Just take a look at a sequence where they're speed walking around the boat. The laughs they share certainly appear to be very real. There's's another wonderful scene in a swimming pool. The two stars certainly have enough sex appeal to carry the film and they do just that. They work the romance well, the drama well and they even manage to be quite funny. Kruger turns in a fine performance as well even though the screenplay does him no favors. We get a nice supporting performance by Stuart Erwin, Una O'Connor (THE INVISIBLE MAN) and we quickly see a young Mickey Rooney during the pool sequence. If you pause and think about the movie too much you'll realize that the Crawford character really isn't that good of a person considering she's spending her time with a married man and then when she ends up marrying him she just turns around and cheats on him. The film never makes her character look bad for this obviously because it's Crawford. With that said, it's best to just turn your brain off and enjoy the two legends and the fireworks they bring.

I've heard (or read) nothing but bad comments on this movie @ IMDb. But what no one seems to be watching is the acting. The acting & the storyline are so wonderful! Comparisons of the older Mrs. Fielding's divorce request to the younger is so touching & ironic. There are comic moments on the ship between Crawford & Gable. This isn't an epic action type of movie. But it is a very satisfying escape from everyday life. Isn't that what movies are for? Especially the classic's? I challenge any true classic movie lover that if they don't find this movie "satisfying", then they aren't true classic movie lovers. This movie had a twist that I haven't seen in movies in several years. Can someone tell me of a movie with this same type of love triangle? One that shows the wonderful irony also? And the kindness of Mr. Fielding? And the easy lilting voices of that age? These movies didn't need instant gratification to solve problems. Classic's like these are like a comfortable raft on the lake on a great sunny day. They don't need BIG epic action to make you feel good. They just do it with the acting and a good screenplay.