No Man of Her Own

Gable's the boss of a gang of cardsharps, Lombard's the small town librarian who marries him on a bet. Lightly brushing at least three separate genres, this good-natured yarn (from a story by Edmund Goulding and Benjamin Glazer) eschews conflict at every turn. The henchmen are supportive, the rejected girlfriend rallies round, the cop's kind-hearted: the film resolutely refuses to admit a villain. Besides, Ruggles was a famously one-take director who relished spontaneity, e.g. the scene where Gable asks Grapewin for directions. It's also a reminder of how relaxed Hollywood movies were before the enforcement of the Production Code, in their sexual references and in the casual disrobings by their leading ladies.