"Key to the City" is a very good comedy-romance. It has a fine mix of funny dialog, some crazy antics, and hilarious scenarios. Clark Gable is Puget City (California) Mayor Steve Fisk and Loretta Young is Wenonah (Maine) Mayor Clarissa Standish. From the opening scene as the credits role, we know this is going to be a fun film. After a view of San Francisco Bay, we see a fishmonger plop a sea bass on a newspaper to wrap it. The headline reads, "Welcome Mayors." Next, welcome hosts watch on TV as the San Francisco mayor welcomes all the other mayors, and then they change the welcome group sign from dentists to mayors.
In the hotel lobby, Clarissa is invited to a cocktail party hosted by the Cement Sewer Construction Co. Then she gets a convention souvenir booklet, "Compliments of the Jackson Jail and Penitentiary Equipment Co." The model is standing behind prison bars and is dressed in prison stripe tights. Next is a handout from a model in a makeshift truck driver's seat, who says, "This is the latest word on garbage trucks. There's no flies on us." Last, a model wearing a fireman's hat offers Corona Corona cigars, compliments of the Defiance Fire Engine Corp. This must be the top caliber fire engine because the Stevens Fire Engine Co. is giving away Perfecto Perfecto cigars. The comedy really gets underway after the two mayors from opposite coasts meet.
Besides the comedy and romance, this film is a gentle spoof of conventions and it pokes some fun at public officials (er, servants). This exchange at the hotel front desk is a real hoot. Clarissa, "Mayor Standish of Wenonah, Maine – the Pine Tree State." Desk clerk (played by Clinton Sundberg), "Uh, where is his honor?" Clarissa, "Mayor Clarissa Standish." Desk clerk, "Oh, yes, of course. Yes, we've reserved a room for Mayor Standish." Clarissa, "Thank you! How much?" Desk clerk, "$15 a day." Clarissa, "Well, I'm sure it's a very beautiful room, but you see, I'm traveling at the taxpayers' expense." Desk clerk, "Oh, well, in that case, I can give you a lovely suite for 45... uh, with a view of Alcatraz." Clarissa, "If I spend over $7 a day, I shall be in Alcatraz." Desk clerk, "Yes, your honor, $7."
The film has some long-time top supporting actors. Frank Morgan (the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz") is superb as Fire Chief Duggan. James Gleason plays Police Sergeant Hogan. Clinton Sundberg is hilarious as Mark Mont, the hotel desk clerk. Lewis Stone plays Clarissa's uncle, Judge Silas Standish. And Raymond Burr plays the cad, Les Taggart. Seeing Burr in this and other early films, one wonders what the movie and TV moguls saw in him to star as Perry Mason in the 1957-66 TV series. Well, I guess it doesn't take a great actor for an attorney role, if one has great scripts. Don't get me wrong. I was in the throng of viewers who couldn't wait for the next installment of the Perry Mason show. Then, later, the same thing with Ironside when that series ran from 1967-75. And, of course, a long string of TV movies as Perry Mason from 1985 up to 1993 when he died.
Anyway, in this movie, Burr is a bad guy, and he and Gable go to it with the fists for a long time until Fisk finally downs Taggart and dumps him in the city hall fishpond.
The romance between Fisk and Standish is woven between the mayors convention committee meetings, a night out, and a couple of run-ins to jail. The Fire Chief comes to the rescue more than once, with some speeding fire trucks. There is definitely good chemistry between the two leads. This is 15 years after Gable and Young appeared together in "Call of the Wild," when they had an off-screen affair. Gable was married then but Young wasn't, and when she became pregnant, she went into seclusion. She went with her mother to Europe to conceal her pregnancy, then returned to have her baby while pretending to be sick. Her daughter, Judy, was born on Nov. 6, 1935. The baby was put into orphanages and after 19 months, Loretta announced that she was adopting a child. Judy only learned that Gable was her biological father five years after he died.
This is a wonderful light comedy-romance with some good spoofery of local elected politicians and the city conventions trade. Young has some hilarious scenes where she sticks her foot in her mouth ever so beautifully. To see more of the funny dialog, see the Quotes section on this IMDb Web page of the film. Here are a couple samples.
Clarissa, "Well, we're not here to play, we're here to work. That's what you said over the television." Steve Fisk, "I was just making a speech." Clarissa, "But you said you didn't know anything about making speeches." Steve, "That's the way you make a speech." Clarissa, "Oh. Oh, I see."
Steve, "Fine jail you've got here. And I've been in some of the best." Clarissa, "I'll bet you have." Steve, "As mayor."
Uncle Silas, "Public service is a fine thing, Clarrie, but you can't cuddle up to it on a cold winter's night."
Les Taggart, "The newspapers like to smell pork and it's your bacon that's burning."
Clarissa, "You have brains but on your brawn they're so becoming."
In the hotel lobby, Clarissa is invited to a cocktail party hosted by the Cement Sewer Construction Co. Then she gets a convention souvenir booklet, "Compliments of the Jackson Jail and Penitentiary Equipment Co." The model is standing behind prison bars and is dressed in prison stripe tights. Next is a handout from a model in a makeshift truck driver's seat, who says, "This is the latest word on garbage trucks. There's no flies on us." Last, a model wearing a fireman's hat offers Corona Corona cigars, compliments of the Defiance Fire Engine Corp. This must be the top caliber fire engine because the Stevens Fire Engine Co. is giving away Perfecto Perfecto cigars. The comedy really gets underway after the two mayors from opposite coasts meet.
Besides the comedy and romance, this film is a gentle spoof of conventions and it pokes some fun at public officials (er, servants). This exchange at the hotel front desk is a real hoot. Clarissa, "Mayor Standish of Wenonah, Maine – the Pine Tree State." Desk clerk (played by Clinton Sundberg), "Uh, where is his honor?" Clarissa, "Mayor Clarissa Standish." Desk clerk, "Oh, yes, of course. Yes, we've reserved a room for Mayor Standish." Clarissa, "Thank you! How much?" Desk clerk, "$15 a day." Clarissa, "Well, I'm sure it's a very beautiful room, but you see, I'm traveling at the taxpayers' expense." Desk clerk, "Oh, well, in that case, I can give you a lovely suite for 45... uh, with a view of Alcatraz." Clarissa, "If I spend over $7 a day, I shall be in Alcatraz." Desk clerk, "Yes, your honor, $7."
The film has some long-time top supporting actors. Frank Morgan (the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz") is superb as Fire Chief Duggan. James Gleason plays Police Sergeant Hogan. Clinton Sundberg is hilarious as Mark Mont, the hotel desk clerk. Lewis Stone plays Clarissa's uncle, Judge Silas Standish. And Raymond Burr plays the cad, Les Taggart. Seeing Burr in this and other early films, one wonders what the movie and TV moguls saw in him to star as Perry Mason in the 1957-66 TV series. Well, I guess it doesn't take a great actor for an attorney role, if one has great scripts. Don't get me wrong. I was in the throng of viewers who couldn't wait for the next installment of the Perry Mason show. Then, later, the same thing with Ironside when that series ran from 1967-75. And, of course, a long string of TV movies as Perry Mason from 1985 up to 1993 when he died.
Anyway, in this movie, Burr is a bad guy, and he and Gable go to it with the fists for a long time until Fisk finally downs Taggart and dumps him in the city hall fishpond.
The romance between Fisk and Standish is woven between the mayors convention committee meetings, a night out, and a couple of run-ins to jail. The Fire Chief comes to the rescue more than once, with some speeding fire trucks. There is definitely good chemistry between the two leads. This is 15 years after Gable and Young appeared together in "Call of the Wild," when they had an off-screen affair. Gable was married then but Young wasn't, and when she became pregnant, she went into seclusion. She went with her mother to Europe to conceal her pregnancy, then returned to have her baby while pretending to be sick. Her daughter, Judy, was born on Nov. 6, 1935. The baby was put into orphanages and after 19 months, Loretta announced that she was adopting a child. Judy only learned that Gable was her biological father five years after he died.
This is a wonderful light comedy-romance with some good spoofery of local elected politicians and the city conventions trade. Young has some hilarious scenes where she sticks her foot in her mouth ever so beautifully. To see more of the funny dialog, see the Quotes section on this IMDb Web page of the film. Here are a couple samples.
Clarissa, "Well, we're not here to play, we're here to work. That's what you said over the television." Steve Fisk, "I was just making a speech." Clarissa, "But you said you didn't know anything about making speeches." Steve, "That's the way you make a speech." Clarissa, "Oh. Oh, I see."
Steve, "Fine jail you've got here. And I've been in some of the best." Clarissa, "I'll bet you have." Steve, "As mayor."
Uncle Silas, "Public service is a fine thing, Clarrie, but you can't cuddle up to it on a cold winter's night."
Les Taggart, "The newspapers like to smell pork and it's your bacon that's burning."
Clarissa, "You have brains but on your brawn they're so becoming."