John Gilbert (actor) - Career Decline

Career Decline

Throughout his time at MGM, Gilbert frequently clashed with studio head Louis B. Mayer over creative, social and financial matters. It was said that at the apparent double wedding of Garbo and Gilbert and director King Vidor and actress Eleanor Boardman, Mayer made a crude remark about Garbo to the distraught Gilbert, causing him to physically attack the mogul. This story has been disputed by some historians. Although one eye-witness—the bride, Eleanor Boardman—claimed to have seen the assault, others deny that it occurred.

In any case, Mayer apparently detested Gilbert and was disgruntled that the actor had just signed an ironclad contract for six pictures at $250,000 each. It was suggested that Mayer deliberately gave Gilbert bad scripts and ineffective directors in an effort to void the contract.

With the coming of sound, Gilbert's vocal talents made a good first impression in the all-star musical comedy The Hollywood Revue of 1929, appearing in a Technicolor sequence with Norma Shearer. They played the "balcony scene" from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, first as written, and then repeating the scene in current slang. Reviewers for the film did not note any problems with Gilbert's voice at this time and, in fact, some praised it.

Audiences awaited Gilbert's first romantic role on the talking screen. The vehicle was the Ruritanian romance His Glorious Night (also 1929). According to film reviews of the day, audiences laughed nervously at Gilbert's performance. The fault was not Gilbert's voice but the awkwardly scripted, overly ardent scenes of lovemaking; in one scene, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady (Catherine Dale Owen) while saying "I love you" over and over again. (This scene was parodied in the MGM musical Singin' in the Rain (1952), where a preview of the fictional The Dueling Cavalier flops disastrously). Director King Vidor stated that Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert's main rival in the 1920s for romantic leads, probably would have suffered the same fate in the talkie era, had he lived.

Gilbert became increasingly depressed by progressively inferior films and idle stretches between productions, but he resolved to thwart Louis B. Mayer's master plan and see the six-picture contract through. Gilbert's fortunes were temporarily restored by MGM's production chief Irving Thalberg. Thalberg gave Gilbert two projects that were character studies, giving Gilbert an excellent showcase for his versatility. The Phantom of Paris (1931), originally intended for Lon Chaney who died from cancer in 1930, cast Gilbert as a debonair magician and showman who is falsely accused of murder, and uses his mastery of disguise to unmask the real killer. Downstairs (1932) was based on Gilbert's original story, with the actor playing against type as a scheming, blackmailing chauffeur. The films were well received by critics and fans, but did not return him to the heights of stardom. Shortly after making Downstairs, he married co-star Virginia Bruce; the couple divorced in 1934. Gilbert played out the contract with one last, unimportant "B" picture, and left the studio in 1933.

Greta Garbo insisted that John Gilbert must return to MGM, to play her leading man in Queen Christina (1933) directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Garbo was top-billed, with Gilbert's name beneath the title. The picture also failed to revive his career. Columbia Pictures gave him a chance for a comeback; The Captain Hates the Sea (1934) featured a capable performance by Gilbert as a frustrated playwright, but offscreen the ensemble cast of heavy drinkers did nothing for Gilbert's discipline, and the film turned out to be his last.