High Road to China

Brian G. Hutton's "High Road To China" is a classic example of good old fashioned chemistry. Lost-generation flapper hires boozy WW-I flying ace to help find her father, lost somewhere in China, to avoid losing her inheritance. You just know that they will eventually get together, and plenty of facial expressions and body language promise an ending that eventually delivers. Some great scenery and flying scenes, and burly he-manning from Brian Blessed, keep you in stitches. If this had been filmed in black and white in the 40s, it would have been up there with Casablanca, et al. Lots of low-expectation fun.

It's been 3 years since socialite Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) heard from her wealthy father Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley). His business partner in London is trying to declare him dead. She has only 12 days before the partner steals the family business and the entire fortune. Her only option is hiring drunken war hero Patrick O'Malley (Tom Selleck) and his mechanic Struts (Jack Weston). Under fire from pursuing gunmen, they fly two biplanes from Turkey to Afghanistan and eventually China where Bradley is leading villagers in a battle against a local ruthless warlord.

It's a rather simplistic 'road' movie. It's an action adventure following the successful footsteps of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The characters are simply drawn. Certainly, Selleck has a bit of Indy in him. The romantic chemistry is also drawn from that road map. I do like the flying although action is not always there. At least, that's what I remember most before watching it again recently. Of course, it's inferior to Raiders but it still works.

Given Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, Wilford Brimley, Robert Morley, Brian Blessed, and Jack Weston, and a bunch of excellent aerial action scenes, this is a terrific film. So what if there isn't a great message, or outstanding drama. For what this is... a comedy-adventure... it's great. Tom and Bess have always been extremely watchable to me, and they continue that tradition here. A solid 9.

Drama, funny, & veteran character actors out the kazoo. Robert Morley (rest his soul) is great as the malicious bumbling nemesis, & Wilford Brimley is letter-perfect as the eccentric good-guy geezer. Jack Weston is stellar as sidekick, Brian Blessed is appropriately malevolent as Suleman Khan, & Timothy Bateson is 1st-rate as Morley's sniveling toady. All of this is overshadowed (but not over the top) by the absolutely perfect chemistry between Selleck & Armstrong, though. Yeah, sure, the conceit of the snotty-rich-girl-drives-the-heart-of-gold-tough-guy-crazy love story has been done to death, but never executed quite like this. These two make an on-screen couple at the level of Bogey/Bacall, Fred/Ginger, & George/Gracie.

Selleck's charisma normally dominates other actors' presence; Armstrong more than holds her own, which is saying a lot for any actress, much less one not on the A-list. The cinematography is exceptionally well-done. All in all, this is one seriously underrated flick, & a movie I'd buy in a heartbeat if it ever became available on DVD, which sadly I doubt it ever will. :(

The last of a great breed. This is truly one of the last of the great classic films, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Simply put, films like this are a thing of the past, as has been shown in the last twenty years. They appeal to too narrow an audience by today's corporate marketing genius's standards (heavy sarcasm), and because of the cross market appeal this film has, it's guaranteed to be a box-office bust (again, buy today's standards).

Technically; the Kahn sequence seemed a touch slow and contrived, as well as the British army sequence and some of the other character oriented scenes, but still necessary. Regardless, the camera work, locations and art direction are top notch. Good stunts, excellent flying sequences, and, most importantly of all, there's no CGI to ruin the movie. Heck, there aren't even miniatures in this film! Everything you see in this film IS REAL. Aeroplanes, explosions, sets, locations, the whole shootin-match. :-) (so to speak).

No awards will be won by any single actor, actress or crew member. But, as a whole, this is a spectacular film that I really want for my DVD collection. Regrettably the only version available to us in the United States is the one provided on Youtube.

Romantic and adventurous settings, locations and story makes this one not to miss. Sellick and Armstrong definitely sync well together on screen.

*RESCREENED JAN 10th, 2010* My new title; "Indiana Jones Grows Up"

I got my DVD of this film a few days ago, and popped it into my region 2 player after work. All I can say is I'm truly glad I have this in my collection, and I think I appreciate the film now more than ever. What we have here is the bratty socialite connecting with the hero-has-been who's never grown up. She's a socialite aviatrix with womanly wiles, while he's the rugged man of the world, but prefers to stay in his immature mold and lost to the world. Both have lessons to teach one another, and it pays off. I find it a heart warming film that I think couples true of heart to another can share and enjoy.

Regrettably my region 2 DVD is not letter boxed, and the transfer, though respectable, is not what it could have been. Still, it's the only game in town as far a DVD version of this film goes, and I'm okay with that. Though shame on the powers that be for not making this film a priority for market.

Well, I don't have too much more to say other than I'm going to watch it again. :-)

Enjoy.

*EDIT JULY 10th, 2012* I got a brand new letterboxed and remastered DVD from Hen's Tooth Video. A fantastic transfer. Excellent quality. Many kudos to the people at Hen's Tooth. The film looks better than ever before. Pick up a copy today.