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Idiot's Delight

Play trailer Poster for Idiot's Delight Released Jan 27, 1939 1h 45m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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33% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 45% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
In Clark Gable's only musical performance on film, "The King of Hollywood" plays World War I veteran Harry Van (Clark Gable), who is attempting to revive his career in show business. Twenty years after a brief romantic liaison with beautiful Russian acrobat Irene (Norma Shearer), Harry finds himself stranded in a European hotel during the outbreak of World War II. While he waits for the borders to be reopened, Harry meets a mysterious woman who may be Irene.
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Idiot's Delight

Critics Reviews

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy A toothless drama further hampered by Shearer’s unbearably exaggerated performance. Rated: 2.5/4 Jul 5, 2025 Full Review John Kinloch California Eagle Clarence Brown has given the film snappy, brisk direction. However, it bogs down toward end and never quite comes off. Oct 30, 2019 Full Review Graham Greene The Spectator Over-acting could hardly go further... Sep 11, 2019 Full Review Steve Crum Video-Reviewmaster.com WWII + Gable+ Gable singing! Add Norma Shearer for more MGM star power. Rated: 4/5 Feb 18, 2008 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jun 19, 2005 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews An unfulfilling adaptation of Robert E. Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Rated: C Jan 28, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Frank S Regardless of the ratings this movie is pure gold if only to see Clark Gable dancing to Irving Berlin's masterpiece - "Puttin' On The Ritz" Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/25/25 Full Review Audience Member This movie, released in January 1939, it is amazingly prescient at predicting what was going to happen in the next few years, namely the horror of World War II. The story itself is charming, as our Clark Gable and Norma Shearer, and features a bravura performance by my favorite actor Burgess Meredith! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Gable and Shearer give two their best performances in the top film adaptation of Robert Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway smash Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member A misfire extraordinaire! Gable dances like he has shackles on his feet; the anti-Astaire. The acting and direction are incredibly stilted; Shearer is absurdly camp. Her affectations are ridiculous. The pacifist message of this movie is almost comical, in light of the actual history of WWII. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Robert E. Sherwood won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for his allegory-like satire Idiot's Delight. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the film rights to the play, and commissioned Sherwood himself to adapt his play to the screen. The result is this astoundingly poignant classic, which features Norma Shearer and Clark Gable in the third and last of their radiant screen pairings... Wonderfully odd--A Russian Countess on the Swiss border is really an American vaudeville performer in disguise; she's not hiding from anything or anyone, she just wants to be bigger than life. Unfortunately, a second-rate song-and-dance man she once dated is staying at the same hotel, while wartime hysteria is breaking out all around them... Shearer and Gable ham it up to this idiot's delight!! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member good and enjoyable com-dram Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Idiot's Delight

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Cast & Crew

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Clarence Brown

Director

Norma Shearer

Irene Fellara

Clark Gable

Harry Van

Edward Arnold

Achille Weber

Charles Coburn

Dr. Hugo Waldersee

Joseph Schildkraut

Capt. Kirvline

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Idiot's Delight

Idiot's Delight (1939) Idiot's Delight (1939) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In Clark Gable's only musical performance on film, "The King of Hollywood" plays World War I veteran Harry Van (Clark Gable), who is attempting to revive his career in show business. Twenty years after a brief romantic liaison with beautiful Russian acrobat Irene (Norma Shearer), Harry finds himself stranded in a European hotel during the outbreak of World War II. While he waits for the borders to be reopened, Harry meets a mysterious woman who may be Irene.
Director
Clarence Brown
Producer
Clarence Brown, Hunt Stromberg
Screenwriter
Robert E. Sherwood
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 27, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 22, 2009
Runtime
1h 45m
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