China Seas

It is funny, sexy, exciting, and every bit as resonant today as 1935- really saying something for a post-Code picture.

It's MGM of the period all the way. Bang bang bang, nonstop action, mile-a-minute dialogue. Basically a shameless retread of Red Dust, I actually like it a lot better than Red Dust. It's also got a dash of Shanghai Express, which is fine. Maybe it's the fact that I'm drawn to "souls at sea"" pictures and ensemble films about disparate groups thrown together by fate, their bizarre stories intertwining.

And what an ensemble this film boasts: There's Harlow, who by now could act, working her sex-clown routine with total confidence- fierceness to the Nth degree. Acing scene after scene, playing off Gable and Wallace Beery and Hattie MacDaniel (who has a rare good role, although not as substantial as it could be) just wonderfully. She should have gotten a Best Actress nomination for this.

Then there's Gable as Gable. Roz Russell is stuck playing one of the dour, humorless Brits MGM frequently cast her as in the thirties (see also Night Must Fall and The Citadel ). Donald Meek and Lewis Stone and Robert Benchley and plenty of others, all making the most out of their bits.

The stories are tight, every character compelling, and great dialogue all wonderfully pieced together. I don't often agree with Leonard Maltin or find his assessments of films too astute, but he is completely correct when he calls China Seas "impossible to dislike."

China Seas, a minor title in the classic film library, is the film to show to win people over to the "Black and White" side and show them how exciting and entertaining a classic movie can be.

China Seas is a sort of follow-up to Red Dust, with the addition of the sort of all-star cast pioneered in Grand Hotel, only set on board a passenger ship instead of in a hotel. As in Red Dust, the central plot element involves a triangle featuring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. However, this time the hypotenuse is occupied by Rosalind Russel rather than Mary Astor.

By the time China Seas was produced the infamous Hayes Office was already busily enforcing standards of decency in the film industry. Consequently, the action is a good deal less steamy than in Red Dust. Nevertheless, the Gable-Harlow chemistry is still very much in evidence, even if their byplay has been somewhat toned-down.

Another major element of the plot involves piracy against modern (1930s) shipping in the Far East. Some viewers might find that notion a bit far-fetched. However, it is far less absurd than one might think. In fact, it is still going on today (2012)!

It is a relief to see a vibrantly entertaining film that is well-crafted as a finely made chair. Like most chairs, this film is no classic like "Citizen Kane" or "Gone With The Wind" but it's exciting with charismatic leads like Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. The chemistry between the two is gripping, even if a lot of their encounters in this movie are rather repetitious of the "I love you but I shouldn't" variety. One can see why Gable and Harlow were cast together at every opportunity MGM had from "Red Dust" onward. The other supporting actors are quite good especially Wallace Beery as a slippery villain. While Robert Benchley is quite amusing, his drunk act starts getting really old after a while. Also, it's quite sobering to realize that Benchley would die in 1945 from the effects of long-term alcoholism. In sum, despite some unhappy reminders of Hollywood's racism of times past, this is a fine film that probably served as one source of inspiration for Spielberg's Indiana Jones series of films in the 1980s.

A pretty good movie with an excellent cast and some decent special effects. Gable is at his best and the same can be said for Beery , Sir C. and Harlow. I haven't seen many Harlow films but I'm assuming that her stock character is the one she portrays here , a sort of bad girl with a heart of gold, a lovable moron who speaks first and thinks later. The kind of woman who (if she were your wife/girlfriend) would ruin a party and make a big scene if she became jealous. In other words the kind of woman most men might stupidly have casual sex with and then realizing what an idiot they were saddled with, run away from as fast as they could. I'm guessing many depression era women could identify with her low class stubborn pride but now she seems like an annoying , shrill, infantile idiot constantly seeking approval. As a portrait of this kind of woman , Harlow is magnificent. You might want to strangle her or throw her overboard but she's always watchable, the bra less gowns help.

A good cast and lots of action highlight "China Seas," a 1935 film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery and Rosalind Russell.

Gable plays Alan Gaskell who is captain of a ship sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore. He's in love with the refined Sybil Thorndike (Russell) and attempting to reform his some of his bad habits.

He has a constant reminder of his former life, however, and that's his old girlfriend Dolly (Harlow) who wants him back. When the ship is hijacked by pirates looking for gold, Gaskell wonders how much Dolly and her drinking buddy, MacArdle, were involved.

Gable and Harlow worked extremely well together and give good performances here, and there's a lot happening - a typhoon and the pirate attack - which make for good adventure.

Derivative but very enjoyable.