The King and Four Queens was the first (and last) project from
Clark Gable's own production company, GABCO.
Gable stars as Western fugitive Dan Kehoe, who hides out in a small ghost town. Here he whiles away his time with the town's only inhabitants: Ma MacDade (
Jo Van Fleet), matriarch of the outlaw McDade family, and the four wives (
Eleanor Parker,
Jean Willes,
Barbara Nichols, and
Sara Shane) of Mrs. McDade's gunslinging sons. Three of the four McDade boys are dead; the fourth is expected to return at any minute with the loot from a recent stagecoach robbery. Since no one knows which of the McDades is dead, all four wives make a play for the bemused Kehoe; he in turn responds to their advances, hoping to get a share of the gold. The fur really begins to fly when it turns out that one of the wives is a phony who intends to double-cross the other three and ride off into the sunset with Kehoe. When
The King and Four Queens proved a box-office disappointment,
Clark Gable gave up the notion of producing his own films and returned to freelancing at the major studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide