China Seas

source: China Seas

MY RATING- 7.1 A fairly entertaining romantic adventure with Gable having to deal with the dumb blonde Jean Harlow. She's very sexy here, and this mov helped to create the myth. Also starring Wallace Beery as the bad guy, Rosalind Russel as the old Gable's sweetheart, and a nice little performance by Lewis Stone. The mov contains some crude and unecessary violence like in the scene some colossal machines crush poor chinese fellows.

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.

Aside from being a fine movie with a nice plot with plenty of intrigue and tension, this movie - and I've seen 'em all - had the single MOST terrifying scene I'd EVER seen in any movie bar NONE!! If you see it at around 50 minutes into it, it seems to last forever. For the life of me I really don't have a clue how they filmed this one. Don't forget this isn't CGI. Take your sea sick pills and fasten your seat belts for this one!!!!! Gable, Harlow, Russell & Beery - along with the great Hattie McDaniel in a small role. And a great cast make this one a serious winner. The 2 other "cast" members are a baby grand piano and a steam roller. Trust me.

Three MGM stars brawl their way from Hong Kong to Singapore in this Far East shipboard adventure that never picks much steam relying instead on the reputation of its stars to keep course. Capt. Gaskell (Clark Gable) prepares to take his ship on it usual route across the China Sea with a variety of passengers from all walks. The voyage is complicated for Gaskell however when a current flame Dolly ( Jean Harlow ) and a long lost one Sibyl (Rosalind Russell) book passage. The captain must also contend with typhoons, pirates and securing the safety of a fortune in gold. When Sybil begins to wedge herself more into the picture with Gaskell Dolly behaves badly and irrationally throws in with Jamesy ( Wallace Beery ) whose in league with the pirates. There's some decent wisecracking by Harlow in this lemon of a star vehicle for the three but for the most part it's a cacophony of yelling between them while Russell remains composed and undeveloped. Robert Benchley is also on board to provide comedy relief but seems as if he was filming one of his shorts subjects on the same set. Content to let the stars do what they do best China Seas squanders sub plot possibilities as well as give little attention to a scene that calls into question Gaskell's cold immorality regarding life and injury. Instead it chooses to keep the film in safe waters and dazzle you instead with the glow of its stars. Man the lifeboats.

This is one of my favourite films and is as great as people say. It's got a lot of plot, some I think lifted from other sources. The gold in the steam-engine - wasn't that a story by Kipling? (Notice how the runaway engine is mirrored by the runaway piano in the saloon where the posh people have taken refuge.) And the "fake" pearls are definitely Somerset Maugham - they turn up again in a film that's a compendium of his short stories. I love Jean Harlow, and she only betrays Gable because she thinks she's lost him. Surely she redeems herself and switches sides again. (And was her real-life husband murdered? His motiveless "suicide" is one of those Hollywood mysteries that have a hundred solutions.) Harlow died tragically young of untreated kidney disease - her mother was a Christian scientist. Or is that another legend?

This film has some good things going for it. First, a cast of MGM's finest -- Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russel, Robert Benchley, among others. Gable is the skipper of a somewhat battered passenger liner in Asiatic waters. Harlow is the girl he's been associated with, so to speak, a little "tainted", as Gable puts it. But who the hell is HE to talk? He comes aboard just before sailing, filthy and unshaven, hung over. He barks out orders to the crew and to just about everyone else. Rosalind Russel is an old flame from London and her husband has died so she is now "available." Wallace Beery is a likable big lug who gambles and drinks but is in cahoots with some pirates who take over the ship, just after the big hurricane hits. Benchley is thrown in as a harmless drunk given to wisecracks and non sequiturs, only one of which (about his being a chess master) is truly funny. Second, there is the set dressing by Cedric Gibbons. Love it. Everything is painted white. The crummy little ship has a saloon the size of Madison Square Garden. This is one of those films in which all the men dress in white suits and wear pith helmets. The women's garb is more nearly traditional. Rosalind Russell has an English accent and an equally hoity-toity wardrobe. Harlow is dressed in slinky gowns that seem to glow in the dark and she eschews brassieres. There are some slam-bang special effects during the hurricane. And a great scene in which the Malay pirates take over the ship and torture Gable to get him to squeal about where the gold is hidden. "Oh, NO! Not the Malay BOOT! Tell them where the gold is. I can't stand to witness this!" (That's Wallace Beery, who hasn't been outed as a traitor yet, in mock anguish over the torture Gable is about to undergo.) It seems that we're all set up for another rousing, funny, exotic adventure movie along the lines of "Gunga Din," except that the script keeps undercutting the light-heartedness with serious, sometimes rather insightful dialog. Example: Harlow is jealous of Russell and, at the captain's dinner table, she has a couple of drinks and starts shouting lewd and suggestive remarks. Russell: "You must be very fond of him." Harlow: "Whaddaya mean?" Russell: "To humiliate yourself like this." There are a lot of ways Russell's punch line could have been delivered -- angrily, with bitchiness, for instance, but Russell's tone and expression convey empathy and sadness. Gable too is given some sober, thoughtful exchanges but acts as if he can't quite bring himself to believe what he's saying, as if he'd prefer the careless, rough-hewn character that first appeared on the screen, kind of like his character in "Red Dust." It's an above average flick for its genre though. All that whiteness is almost blinding.

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)!

The first 95% or more of the film was quite enjoyable and this is no surprise considering the talent MGM assembled for the film. Three of its biggest money-making stars (Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery) were featured in this film, along with other notables such as Lewis Stone and Rosalind Russell. The plot is all about a cargo/passenger ship commanded by Clark in the China Seas--which is an area infested with pirates. Beery is one of the passengers but unknown to everyone, he's also the leader of the pirates!! Harlow is Clark's ex-girlfriend. Just how close she and Clark were is a bit vague, though it is implied they were more than just boyfriend/girlfriend. However, an old flame, Russell, comes aboard and Clark quickly dumps Harlow in favor of her because Russell isn't a loud-mouthed skank--plus she is pretty sophisticated with her British accent. Here is an odd bit of casting, because we then hear that Clark, too, is British, but he made no attempt at an accent and sounded about as British as the Frito Bandito or Yogi Berra!! But, despite this, the writing is pretty good and the acting top-notch, so it can easily be ignored. Unfortunately, what cannot be ignored is the end of the film. It just made absolutely no sense at all. While Harlow was a foul-mouthed tramp who actually HELPED the pirates, Clark unexpectedly dumps Russell at the end even though she's a stand-up dame (great lingo, huh?)! It seems that the ONLY reason they ended the film that way was because Harlow was by far a bigger star compared to Russell and they just couldn't let Clark end the film without Harlow. Plus, in so many, many, many ways, this film is RED DUST, PART II. Both feature the pair in Southeast Asia, both had a back story where Gable and Harlow were strongly implied to be more than just "friends" and both had Gable fall for a sophisticated lady yet end up with Harlow in the end of the film!

Rollicking fun with the MGM sheen at its height. Jean and Gable were always a great match and they continue here as a doxy and a ship's captain. The script is serviceable enough to not stretch belief too far, what is more fantastic is that Jean would be traveling on a China tug in white satin no matter how striking it is, same goes for Clark in his white captain uniform but that's Metro for you. This is the last of Jean's true brassy platinum blonde roles. For the short time she had left in her regrettably too brief career she softened her look and her roles were heading to the more ladylike end of the spectrum, for instance Wife vs. Secretary. Rosalind Russell is just starting out here too stuck in one of what she referred to as her Lady Mary roles, full of good diction and the graaaand manner her great flair for comedy wouldn't be tapped for several years, she's fine but knowing what she's capable of she feels constrained. The rest of the cast is terrific with Wally Beery and Robert Benchley standing out in full bodied characterizations. Keep in mind that this was made in the 30's so racism and sexism are on full display in a very casual way.