Romancefest 2013: The King and Four Queens

THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS is a fun little romantic western starring Clark Gable as a cowboy drifter who, while on the lam from whatever his previous adventure might have been, finds himself hunting for buried treasure on the land of a ranch previously owned by a quarter of criminal brothers.

As the story goes, 3 of the criminal brothers died in an escape attempt, after hiding their gold at the ranch, and the 4th either escaped or was captured. The brothers left their 4 wives behind, who have been waiting for 2 years to see which brother will return to claim the treasure (and his wife), and the brothers'  stern, widowed mother (Jo Van Fleet) guards the ranch to make sure no one gets in to rob the of the treasure, and none of the girls get out to betray her sons.

Gable shows up and hopes to charm the ladies out of the gold, but Van Fleet is more than a match for him and spends most of the film cock-blocking him left and right as the 4 daughters all but throw themselves at him. Some of them seem more likely to help Gable make off with the gold than others, but Gable makes sure to sow seeds of trust (and desire) with each of them in turn.

The daughters range from a level-headed (Eleanor Parker) to ditzy (Barbara Nichols); from chaste (Sara Shane) to deadly and seductive (Jean Willes).

There isn't much here in the way of deeper meaning or anything like that, but it is an entertaining adventure yarn, and Gable's performance, deliberately showing his age, is as good as ever. Van Fleet, as the bitter old woman, is incredibly effective, and most of the movie rests on her shoulders -- she's almost enough to eclipse the bevy of other beautiful women in the flick.