Parnell (1937)

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Siskoid
Parnell is a dreadfully boring biopic about the Irish politician who fought for Irish home rule in the Victorian era, and one of Clark Gable's more insipid roles that I'm aware of. The film portrays him as a Christ figure, complete with a falsely pious crucifixion at the end, but it's so on the nose, everyone's making speeches about Parnell being a god. I mean, come on. It's a tale of parts, and some certainly work better than others. The parliamentary hearing after Parnell is accused of sedition is about as good as it gets, while the love affair between him and Myrna Loy's scandalously married woman gets more and more melodramatic until Parnell basically has to die as it hits the ceiling. The two have proven chemistry, and very obviously, I'm watching this thing for HER, but her character is almost as wet as Gable's, if better played. All of the incidents, broadly speaking, happened - the timeline is simply collapsed for the needs of the film - but the attempt to give it romantic grandeur falls flat and is in severe need of a pacier rhythm. 4 years 5 months ago