"Key to the City" is a very good comedy-romance. It has a fine mix of funny dialog, some crazy antics, and hilarious scenarios. Clark Gable is Puget City (California) Mayor Steve Fisk and Loretta Young is Wenonah (Maine) Mayor Clarissa Standish. From the opening scene as the credits role, we know this is going to be a fun film. After a view of San Francisco Bay, we see a fishmonger plop a sea bass on a newspaper to wrap it. The headline reads, "Welcome Mayors." Next, welcome hosts watch on TV as the San Francisco mayor welcomes all the other mayors, and then they change the welcome group sign from dentists to mayors. In the hotel lobby, Clarissa is invited to a cocktail party hosted by the Cement Sewer Construction Co. Then she gets a convention souvenir booklet, "Compliments of the Jackson Jail and Penitentiary Equipment Co." The model is standing behind prison bars and is dressed in prison stripe tights. Next is a handout from a model in a makeshift truck driver's seat, who says, "This is the latest word on garbage trucks. There's no flies on us." Last, a model wearing a fireman's hat offers Corona Corona cigars, compliments of the Defiance Fire Engine Corp. This must be the top caliber fire engine because the Stevens Fire Engine Co. is giving away Perfecto Perfecto cigars. The comedy really gets underway after the two mayors from opposite coasts meet. Besides the comedy and romance, this film is a gentle spoof of conventions and it pokes some fun at public officials (er, servants). This exchange at the hotel front desk is a real hoot. Clarissa, "Mayor Standish of Wenonah, Maine – the Pine Tree State." Desk clerk (played by Clinton Sundberg), "Uh, where is his honor?" Clarissa, "Mayor Clarissa Standish." Desk clerk, "Oh, yes, of course. Yes, we've reserved a room for Mayor Standish." Clarissa, "Thank you! How much?" Desk clerk, "$15 a day." Clarissa, "Well, I'm sure it's a very beautiful room, but you see, I'm traveling at the taxpayers' expense." Desk clerk, "Oh, well, in that case, I can give you a lovely suite for 45... uh, with a view of Alcatraz." Clarissa, "If I spend over $7 a day, I shall be in Alcatraz." Desk clerk, "Yes, your honor, $7."The film has some long-time top supporting actors. Frank Morgan (the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz") is superb as Fire Chief Duggan. James Gleason plays Police Sergeant Hogan. Clinton Sundberg is hilarious as Mark Mont, the hotel desk clerk. Lewis Stone plays Clarissa's uncle, Judge Silas Standish. And Raymond Burr plays the cad, Les Taggart. Seeing Burr in this and other early films, one wonders what the movie and TV moguls saw in him to star as Perry Mason in the 1957-66 TV series. Well, I guess it doesn't take a great actor for an attorney role, if one has great scripts. Don't get me wrong. I was in the throng of viewers who couldn't wait for the next installment of the Perry Mason show. Then, later, the same thing with Ironside when that series ran from 1967-75. And, of course, a long string of TV movies as Perry Mason from 1985 up to 1993 when he died. Anyway, in this movie, Burr is a bad guy, and he and Gable go to it with the fists for a long time until Fisk finally downs Taggart and dumps him in the city hall fishpond. The romance between Fisk and Standish is woven between the mayors convention committee meetings, a night out, and a couple of run-ins to jail. The Fire Chief comes to the rescue more than once, with some speeding fire trucks. There is definitely good chemistry between the two leads. This is 15 years after Gable and Young appeared together in "Call of the Wild," when they had an off-screen affair. Gable was married then but Young wasn't, and when she became pregnant, she went into seclusion. She went with her mother to Europe to conceal her pregnancy, then returned to have her baby while pretending to be sick. Her daughter, Judy, was born on Nov. 6, 1935. The baby was put into orphanages and after 19 months, Loretta announced that she was adopting a child. Judy only learned that Gable was her biological father five years after he died. This is a wonderful light comedy-romance with some good spoofery of local elected politicians and the city conventions trade. Young has some hilarious scenes where she sticks her foot in her mouth ever so beautifully. To see more of the funny dialog, see the Quotes section on this IMDb Web page of the film. Here are a couple samples. Clarissa, "Well, we're not here to play, we're here to work. That's what you said over the television." Steve Fisk, "I was just making a speech." Clarissa, "But you said you didn't know anything about making speeches." Steve, "That's the way you make a speech." Clarissa, "Oh. Oh, I see." Steve, "Fine jail you've got here. And I've been in some of the best." Clarissa, "I'll bet you have." Steve, "As mayor."Uncle Silas, "Public service is a fine thing, Clarrie, but you can't cuddle up to it on a cold winter's night."Les Taggart, "The newspapers like to smell pork and it's your bacon that's burning." Clarissa, "You have brains but on your brawn they're so becoming."

Ordinary comedy of note more for its cast than any special quality the film itself possesses. Gable and Loretta Young are reunited for the only time after their torrid affair on the set of Call of the Wild resulted in a secret child who was one of Hollywood's most notorious open secrets. This was also Frank Morgan's final completed film, he started work on the disastrous Judy Garland version of Annie Get Your Gun but suffered a heart attack and passed away before the film was restarted with Betty Hutton. As for this picture's story its a bunch of silly nonsense of misunderstandings but the cast give it a game reading and Gable and Young have a good on screen rapport.

Key to the City (1950) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Coming fifteen years after teaming up for THE CALL OF THE WILD, Clark Gable and Loretta Young finally made another film together even though both had remained at MGM over the course of time. Their love child from the making of that 1935 film might have had something to do with this but in this film they play Mayors who meet at a convention in San Francisco. At first, naturally, they can't stand one another but soon they begin to fall in love even though Gable is facing some heat in his political job. When you know the troubled history that Gable and Young went through it's somewhat amazing that MGM would force them into this film but what's even more amazing is that they turn in such fine performances and the charm that's on display here is the same that was seen in that 1935 film (which I highly recommend). That's certainly the sign of great actors but it's a shame that the studio, knowing the trouble, wouldn't deliver a better screenplay. This is certainly another example of great actors having to work their tails off to make material seem a lot better than it actually is. This certainly isn't a bad movie because it does have several good moments but with these two stars you'll be hoping there was more here. What does work is naturally Gable and Young, both extremely charming and making the film fun to watch. The two work perfectly well together as both make you believe their characters and makes you believe everything they do. The supporting cast is also quite good with Raymond Burr as Gable's political rival, Frank Morgan (in his final film; he died before this was released) sweet as the fire chief and Lewis Stone. The screenplay makes a few bad mistakes including the silly political stuff that ends with a pretty over the top sequence inside of Gable's office at the end. This political stuff also keeps Gable and Young away from one another, which is another mistake as it's them carrying the film. Fans of the two stars will certainly want to check this out but others will find much better films from the two.

KEY TO THE CITY is certainly a lighthearted, if occasionally lightheaded comedy about a Mayors' Conference in San Francisco, but it is also great fun, and a throwback to Clark Gable's enjoyable comic work of the 1930s. Since 'the King' had returned from wartime service, his films had all been preachy and somber (perhaps in deference to the continuing sense of loss he felt over the death of his wife, Carole Lombard, or, more likely, because MGM simply hadn't figured out how to best utilize the older, more care-worn veteran star), and you can see that he's enjoying every moment portraying a ruggedly virile 'Longshoreman Mayor'. Casting Loretta Young as his co-star certainly helped, as the pair had quite a history together!Young had been a 'star' since childhood, sort of the Jodie Foster/Diane Lane of her day, and had often been attracted to her older leading men. Marrying co-star Grant Withers at 17 (it was soon annulled), she then became involved in a scandalous affair with Spencer Tracy during the filming of A MAN'S CASTLE, which ended badly when Tracy, a devout Catholic, refused to divorce his wife. At 22, she made CALL OF THE WILD with the 34-year-old Gable, and was soon pregnant with his child (after shooting ended, she took a long leave of absence for 'health' reasons, and gave birth to a girl, who she eventually adopted). Gable knew of his daughter, although the threat of scandal kept both stars silent (a child born out of wedlock would have destroyed both of their careers), creating a 'bond' between Young and Gable that surpassed any of his other co-stars. At 37 when KEY TO THE CITY was filmed, Young, by now an Oscar-winner and screen legend, was still radiantly beautiful, and the sexual chemistry between the stars was genuine. As a good-hearted but repressed New England mayor, she brought out his 'nobler' qualities, as he aroused her 'baser' desires.One of the joys of KEY TO THE CITY is getting to see so many of MGM's legendary 'stock' company, late in their careers, but still giving 'first-rate' performances. Frank 'Wizard of Oz' Morgan, Lewis 'Judge Hardy' Stone, James 'Pop Corkle' Gleason, Raymond 'His Honor' Walburn, and Clara 'Auntie Em' Blandick all shine, as do 'future stars' Marilyn Maxwell (as a sexy dancer) and Raymond Burr, who is simply terrific as Gable's corrupt nemesis. Watch carefully, and you'll also spot veteran Western star Jack Elam, and future 'My Favorite Martian' leading lady, Pamela Britton, in small roles, early in their careers.While some moments (Gable dressed as the 'Blue Boy', for example) are downright silly, and the climax, a 'no-holds-barred' fistfight between Gable and Burr (and Young and Maxwell), stretches credibility well past the breaking point, the film never loses it's sense of fun. This is the Gable of legend, looking good, "cracking wise", and unafraid to 'size up' a woman, or cut an opponent 'down to size'.Definitely worth watching!