Steamy 6-Pack of Gable and Crawford

The young, dashing Clark Gable and the young, sexy Joan Crawford steamed up the screen in eight films in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Now, six of them have been carefully packaged by MGM/UA Home Video in the marvelously entertaining “The Gable and Crawford Collection” ($100), which gives an inkling of what it was that lured your grandparents back to the Bijou week after week.

The five-disc set, in rich black-and-white and clear sound, also offers a parade of emerging stars and character actors, including Rosalind Russell, Franchot Tone, Peter Lorre and Reginald Owen.

The films are presented chronologically, beginning with 1931’s “Possessed,” which boasts a non-mustachioed Gable and a rather racy pre-Code script by Lenore Coffee about a factory girl who wants a more glamorous life, and finds it with a wealthy, politically ambitious lawyer.

“Dance, Fools, Dance,” also from 1931, finds onetime socialite Crawford as a reporter determined to expose mobster Gable, whom, of course, she falls for.

The 1934 “Chained” takes the two shipboard, as part of a love triangle with Otto Kruger, also featuring Stuart Erwin.

“Forsaking All Others” (1934) gives Crawford a chance to reveal her comedic side in a romance that also features Robert Montgomery, Billie Burke, Charles Butterworth and Rosalind Russell.

In “Love on the Run” (1936), it’s Gable who plays a reporter with Crawford an heiress, and Franchot Tone adding to the romantic comedy mix, directed by “The Thin Man’s” W.S. Van Dyke.

The last film in the package, 1940’s “Strange Cargo,” was banned by the Legion of Decency, and it’s not difficult to see why. Lorre and a Franz Waxman score co-star in the story of escape from Devil’s Island. The theatrical trailer accompanies this torrid romance, as it does “Love on the Run.”

While chapter stops are offered for all films, they are oddly put together. So it is a good thing that the laser set is accompanied by a handsomely mounted brochure that delineates chapter stops by film.

New Movies Just Out

“Howards End” (Columbia TriStar, $40); “Forever Young” (Warner, $35); “Deep Cover” (New Line, $40); “House Party 2” (New Line, $40); “Shadow of the Wolf” (Columbia TriStar, $35); “Night and the City” (FoxVideo, $40).