Too Hot to Handle (MGM 1938, Clark Gable, Myrna Loy)

Clark Gable and Myrna Loy star in Too Hot To Handle, a fast-paced insider’s look at the rough-and-tumble world of newsreel producers (the story was written by a newsreel producer).

Gable and his assistant come to the aid of lady flier Loy when her brother is captured by an Amazonian tribe. After impressing the natives with movie voodoo, Gable snatches the captive and make for the States with a scoop. An entertaining look at manufactured news with more than a little contemporary relevance.

Several gags in Too Hot to Handle were devised by the great Buster Keaton, whose astonishing career as the creator of the greatest classics of film comedy was in precipitous decline. Keaton went uncredited.

production details
USA | MGM | 107 minutes | 1938
Director: Jack Conway
Script: John Lee Mahin, Laurence Stallings, Len Hammond,

cast
Frank Faylen as Assistant Dubber (uncredited)
Marjorie Main as Miss Wayne
Blue Washington as Native (uncredited)
James Flavin as Young Reporter (uncredited)
Myrna Loy as Alma Harding
Leo Carrillo as Joselito / José Estanza
Al Shean as Gumpert
Walter Connolly as ‘Gabby’ MacArthur
Chris-Pin Martin as Pedro (uncredited)
Willie Fung as Willie
Clark Gable as Chris Hunter
Walter Pidgeon as Bill Dennis
Johnny Hines as Parsons
Virginia Weidler as Hulda Harding
Betty Ross Clarke as Mrs. Harding
Henry Kolker as ‘Pearly’ Todd
Gregory Gaye as ‘Popoff’
Lillie Mui as ‘Tootsie’
Patsy O’Connor as Fake Hulda
Joseph Crehan as First Advertising Man (uncredited)
Edward Peil Sr. as Newsreel Man (uncredited)
Aileen Pringle as Mrs. Arthur MacArthur (uncredited)
Monte Vandergrift as Policeman (uncredited)