SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

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

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

vincentlynch-moonoi Usually it doesn't even occur to me when I am watching a movie, but for some reason it really did occur to me that Gene Tierney and (especially) Clark Gable were tooooooooo old for their parts in this movie. Note especially Clark Gable in the bathing suit! That's not to say, however, that the acting isn't good in this film. Gable was darned good here. And, while it may have been a little difficult to see Tierney as a ballerina, it wasn't at all difficult to see her as a Russian. I particularly enjoyed watching Richard Haydn as Gable's friend. Haydn was often relegated to rather silly supporting comedy roles (such as in "Sitting Pretty" or "Money From Home", although you may remember him best as the agent in "The Sound Of Music"). Here he's straight dramatic, and quite good.The drinking scene is quite entertaining (though clichéd), if for no other reason than enjoying watching Gable pretend he can't hold his liquor.The plot is very cold war-ish. Gable -- a reporter -- falls in love with a Russian ballerina shortly after the end of WWII. Gable is forced out of Russia after marrying her, but is determined to rescue her by hook or by crook...or in this case by boat. The most illogical part of the film is him swimming to shore in only his shorts and t-shirt, expecting -- with no clothes -- to get into the auditorium where she is performing, and to somehow sneak her out. Which he does!!! Ah, Hollywood. There are some good moments here, and while it is not Gable at his best overall, he has some very good moments where he seems to have matured as an actor.Very worth watching, though not necessarily one you'll want for your DVD shelf.

blanche-2 Clark Gable and Gene Tierney are teamed in "Never Let Me Go," a 1953 film. An American news writer, Philip Sutherland, (Gable) falls in love with a beautiful ballerina Marya, (Tierney), but she isn't allowed to leave Russia with him, despite being given an exit visa. A desperate Gable devises a plan to smuggle her out. British star Kenneth More plays a friend, Steve, who helps him, and Richard Haydn and Belita play another couple in similar circumstances.Gable went through a tough time post-war - he returned from the service a widower, in the shadow of Rhett Butler, and well into his forties, older than many of the leading men who had gone into the service. Men his age had stayed home. Also, MGM hadn't been sitting around waiting - they had new stars. His immediate films post-war aren't memorable."Never Let Me Go" is a good romance, however, and a good watch. Gene Tierney is beautiful, if not very Russian, and Gable is earnest and sympathetic as a tough guy who will do anything to reunite with his wife. Thanks to some good acting, one feels invested in these characters.You have to give it to Gable - his first credited film was in 1931, and when his last film, The Misfits, was released in 1961, he was still a huge star. Despite some so-so movies, he never lost his appeal. "Never Let Me Go" is better than a lot of films MGM gave him during this period.

bkoganbing For Never Let Me Go Clark Gable has dusted off his American correspondent role from Comrade X. In that very funny comedy, Gable was playing an American newspaperman covering the Soviet Union before World War II. He's back at his correspondent's desk in this film. However here he's deadly in earnest as a man driven by love to get his Russian bride out of the police state.Sadly the film was dated from its release with the prominent use of newsreel footage involving Joseph Stalin. The film was released on May 1, 1953 and Stalin had died in March of 1953. The state was the same, but the personalized red bogeyman that Stalin had become was no longer there. I'm sure that must have lessened the impact for those who saw Never Let Me Go in the theater.During the war Gable meets ballerina Gene Tierney and in the spirit of the wartime alliance they fall in love and get married. But when the shooting war against Hitler stops and the Cold War starts, no one tells them NYET concerning romance. The increasingly cynical tone of Gable's stories make him an undesirable in the Soviet Union, he gets deported and Tierney is left behind. The Soviets don't recognize marriage and romance with the enemy.Clark's not going to take that lying down. With Richard Haydn, another man who married a Russian girl left behind, they hire Bernard Miles who has a seaworthy craft and plan a rescue. It's quite a plan and a last minute hitch should have told any sensible person to try another day. Of course that's not what happens, but it does render the last minute rescue somewhat silly.Tierney and Gable make a sincere of pair of romantic lovers. Even without the personalization of Stalin, the film is an accurate reflection of the times. Russians are a mighty suspicious lot of people, before, during, and after the Soviet Union. Kenneth More has a very nice role as a television broadcaster presumably for the BBC who helps the leads with some coded messages in his broadcasts.Gable was getting a bit old for these kind of romantic daring do roles by 1953 though. It's not one of the top films of his career or in that last decade of that fabled Gable career.

MartinHafer To me, the films Clark Gable made in the 1950s are a notch below his prior films. That's because too often Clark played "Clark Gable" (sort of like many of John Wayne's later films) and he didn't veer far from the expected. However, NEVER LET ME GO, dares to be different. While not a great plot, it is interesting and worth seeing. Gable falls for dancer, Gene Tierney, and marries her. However, she is Russian and the government basically holds her hostage and ships Gable out of the country and refuses to renew his VISA. So, Gable organizes a mission where he sneaks into the country to smuggle his wife out from under the commies' noses. While difficult to believe, it is a great curio of the era and illustrates life in the Stalinist era (which ended the same year the film debuted).