Main Cast: Clark Gable, Gene Tierney, Theodore Bikel, Bernard Miles, Richard Haydn, Belita
Release Year: 1953
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 94 minutes
Plot
Clark Gable's next-to-last MGM film was the Cold War melodrama Never Let Me Go. Filmed in England, the story finds American journalist Philip Sutherland (Gable) desperately trying to retrieve his Russian-ballerina bride Marva Lamarkins (Gene Tierney) from behind the Iron Curtain. Stymied by bureaucracy on both sides, Sutherland attempts to plead his case directly to Soviet bigwig Molotov, in London for a peace conference. When this too fails, Sutherland aligns himself with an Englishman (Richard Haydn) in a similar predicament. Together, the two men formulate a daring escape plan, which could spell instant doom for both their wives and themselves. The Englishman's bride is played by Belita, who unlike Gene Tierney did her own dancing in the ballet scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Never Let Me Go is one of those films that sounds better on paper. The idea of Clark Gable and Gene Tierney together promises fireworks, and adding in plot mechanics that force Gable to heroically rescue his beloved seems like a can't-miss proposition. But miss it does. Gable is rather tired here, not giving his most committed performance. Plus, by 1953, he was a bit long in the tooth for Tierney. For her part, Tierney was not the kind of actress who could be slotted into just any part. While she looks divine, she's not terribly believable as a Russian ballerina. Richard Haydn does much better than might be expected with his part, and if Belita is only an adequate actor, she's an entrancing dancer. The screenplay is often terribly far-fetched, the whole thing implausible in that particular Hollywood manner that asks the viewer to accept that one man, because he's an American and in love, can overcome the entire totalitarian state. That said, Delmer Daves directs the film more than adequately, with several sequences really catching fire. Because of its stars, Never Let Me Go is a disappointment, but on its own terms, it's moderately entertaining. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Kenneth More - Steve Quillan; Anna Valentina - Svetlana Mikhailovna; Frederick [Fritz] Valk - Kuragin; Robert Henderson - US Ambassador; Stanley Maxted - John Barnes; Meinhart Maur - Lemkov; Alexis Chesnakov - Gen. Zhdanov; Anton Diffring; Peter Illing - N.K.V.D. Man; Karel Stepanek - Commissar; Anton Dolin - Marya's Partner
Never Let Me Go is a 1953MGM romantic adventure film directed by Delmer Daves, produced by Clarence Brown, from a screenplay by George Froeschel and Ronald Millar, based on the novel Came the Dawn by Roger Bax (aka Andrew Garve/Paul Winterton/Paul Somers).
