China Seas (1935)

I'm only joking, of course, but what's with Clark Gable's diction in this film. Every time he takes on his official role as captain, he doesn't talk, he barks...a lot. Gable is a favorite of mine, but by the end of this film I wanted to cut his tongue out! And that's not the only negative here, in my view.Some of our reviewers here are raving about the casting. I'm not. And we'll start with Jean Harlow. I have to say that I've never understood the attraction, other than her looks. And after watching her in this film...I still don't. To be honest, her character is too foolish to be believable, and it's amazing no one noticed that, even back in 1935. I feel the same about Wallace Beery.I was pleased to see Lewis Stone here as a somewhat down and out third officer. It's a different kind of role for him -- as a coward who ultimately redeems himself; he does well with it.Rosalind Russell is interesting as the surprise love interest. C. Aubrey Smith is enchanting as ever as the owner of the shipping line. Robert Benchley can be pretty amusing and clever; he's not here...he just plays a perpetual drunk. Interestingly, Hattie McDaniel -- a Gable favorite, and soon to be Mammy in GWTW, is here, but received no screen credit...and, as usual, plays a maid.In terms of the plot, this film reminds me of the structure a lot of the more modern disaster films take. A couple of big name stars at the top of the billing, and then a series of subplots where we learn a little bit about each supporting character. The longer you watch the film, the more you realize that the story lines are more complex than you typically found in films from 1935...and that's what makes this film fairly satisfying. And, for 1935, the special effects (primarily the typhoon) are darned good! Recommended, with reservations.

Capt. Gaskell shows up a bit drunk in Hong Kong's harbor for his trip to Singapore. He will be taking a cargo that includes heavy equipment and gold. An assortment of passengers are on board for the voyage, among them, China Doll, the former girlfriend of the captain, and and old flame, Sybil traveling to England.China Doll, still in love with Gaskell, cannot hide her disappointment when the captain clearly shows a preference for the more refined Sybil. Jamesy MacArdle has no problems getting closer to China Doll; after all, he has his own personal agenda and she will be perfect for what he is trying to accomplish.What the passengers, and crew, do not count on, is the typhoon they encounter as they get midway into the voyage. The rough seas almost wreck the ship. Some lower deck passengers, poor Chinese mainly, are killed when the heavy machinery break loose from the chains that are holding them tied firmly. Jamesy MacArdle whose plan is to steal the gold, has been working with Malay pirates that board the ship and want to get the treasure. Jamesy persuades China Doll to steal a key from Gaskell, giving the pirates access to the firearms they carry in the ship for protection. The disgraced Davids, having been blamed for the poor handling of the typhoon rises to the occasion, saving the ship by repelling the invaders."China Seas", directed by Tay Garnett was an ambitious MGM production that offered a great spectacle that involved adventure and romance. With the studio resources the film must have been impressive, even in those days without the computerized special effects. Mr. Garnett showed he had an eye for the genre as he balances the action into a film that is enjoyable because all the elements worked they way he intended.The dashing Clark Gable makes an excellent Capt. Gaskell. He showed why his screen chemistry with his co-star, Jean Harlow. They went to play opposite each other a few more times until her untimely death. Wallace Beery shows up as MacArdle, the schemer looking to steal the fortune stored in the ship. Rosalind Russell plays the sophisticated Sybil, and Lewis Stone appears as Davids. The beauty of the films from this era was the magnificent supporting casts that were put together, as is the case with this film.The DVD we watched recently seems to have been lovingly restored.

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.

In China Seas, Clark Gable and Jean Harlow essentially take their characters from Red Dust off the rubber plantation and transplant them to the high seas. What's wild about this film is that both Gable and Harlow are supposed to be English, but do not even attempt to adopt an accent. In Gable's case he figured the public accepted him in Mutiny on the Bounty so why not. In any case the part called for a rough and tough adventurer and that certainly did fit Gable.Harlow's a girl who's been around the block a few times and she's crazy about Gable. But Gable takes her for granted and he's now pursuing a cultured widow of a friend in Rosalind Russell. That doesn't sit too well with Harlow so she goes after China trader Wallace Beery who's always had a yen for her. The problem is that Beery is hooked up with Malay pirates, a nasty bunch if there ever was. They're looking to steal some gold bullion that Gable's transporting on this voyage. What happens is the rest of the story.This was one of Rosalind Russell's earliest roles and once again there's little trace of the fine comedic actress she became. She worked with Gable again in They Met in Bombay and the results there were excellent. Here she's being a mannered version of Myrna Loy. MGM did that a lot, had back up players in case stars became hard to handle. In this case that's what they envisioned Russell as at this time. She does well in a part, gets more out of the role than I'm sure was originally intended.Actually my favorite in China Seas is Lewis Stone. He's a former captain himself who was beached for cowardice. Gable signs him on as a third officer and Stone makes himself a human bomb and martyrs himself to save the ship. It's a touching and tragic performance.Russell in her memoirs says that at this time she was not terribly friendly with the MGM star roster while she was an up and coming player in the ranks. One exception she did mention was Jean Harlow who she describes as warm, friendly, and helpful. Not that the two would have been up for the same kind of parts, but I got the feeling Russell felt Harlow was a genuinely nice person.The stars and the supporting cast fill out the roles they are normally type cast in. China Seas is still rugged action adventure entertainment.