Abenteuer in China

Clark Gable is a newsreel photographer doing stories on the China-Japan war in Shanghai, Walter Pidgeon is his rival, and Myrna Loy an aviatrix in "Too Hot to Handle," a 1938 film from MGM. Gable and Pidgeon know each other well and besides stealing each other's film, they fake stories so they can scoop one another and satisfy their bosses. They were way ahead of their time there. The funniest scene is Gable staging an airplane dropping a bomb over the house of a family. It's a toy airplane. Hilarious! Loy plays Alma Harding, trying to break air travel records so she can get money for an expedition to the Amazon to find her brother, who is presumed dead. When Pidgeon fakes a delivery of serum by Alma, a childhood friend, it goes wrong when the plane catches on fire after crashing. Gable saves her life and gains her trust. Whether or not it's justified is another matter.

Everyone is great in this movie, including Walter Connolly, who plays Gable's frustrated boss, Pidgeon, Loy and Gable. Gable is irresistible with that smile of his, and Loy is excellent as a determined woman who nevertheless succumbs to Gable's charms. Pidgeon plays a more boisterous part rather than his usual gentlemanly ones, and he comes off very well.

This is a fast-talking film where the action moves along at a rapid pace. A great example of a '30s comedy, tinged with romance, that you won't want to miss.