Parnell

Classics fans who have a mixture of curiosity, an interest in Parnell’s luminous leads and talented supporting players and an appreciative eye for MGM’s second- to-none production of costume dramas may be eager to reassess this often- dismissed film.

Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, in the same year as the national poll that would crown them Hollywood’s King and Queen, star in this 1880s-era tale of popular Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell, his relationship with a woman married to a political rival, and the resultant scandal that upends his career.

The costars — Edna May Oliver, Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp and Billie Burke among them — bring added depth and flair to this drama of bygone days. As for Gable, he was ready to be gone with the bygone, chafing at the idea of doing any more period dramas. Happily he changed his mind. Can you imagine Gone with the Wind without him?