But Not for Me (1959)

Synopsis: Based on the Sam Raphaelson play ACCENT ON YOUTH, Walter Lang's BUT NOT FOR ME offers a darkly comic chronicle of an over-the-hill Broadway producer's attempts to convince financiers to put up... Based on the Sam Raphaelson play ACCENT ON YOUTH, Walter Lang's BUT NOT FOR ME offers a darkly comic chronicle of an over-the-hill Broadway producer's attempts to convince financiers to put up money for his new production. Russell Ward (Clark Gable), desperate to prove that his creative spark has not been dampened by age, acquires new vim when he becomes the object of a much younger woman's desire. Soon art is imitating life when Ward, in a stroke of casting genius, gives his dewy new admirer, Eleanor Brown (Carroll Baker), the starring role in a play about a girl who falls in love with an older man. As a result, Ward finds his career back on track but his love life in shambles. Baker's wide-eyed portrayal strikes an appealing balance between vulnerability and self-reliant strength, and Lee J. Cobb gracefully funnels his prodigious skills into a comedic turn as Russell's besotted playwright sidekick. Gable, in one of his final roles, provides the film's complex core, his Russell a hollowed shell catching and amplifying wispy shreds of bittersweet music. Ella Fitzgerald performs the classic George and Ira Gershwin title song. [More]

Starring: Clark Gable, Carroll Baker, Lilli Palmer, Barry Coe

Starring: Clark Gable, Carroll Baker, Lilli Palmer, Barry Coe, Lee J. Cobb, Thomas Gomez, Charles Lane

Director: Walter Lang

Director: Walter Lang
Screenwriter: John Michael Hayes
Producer: William Perlberg, George Seaton
Composer: Leith Stevens

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