mark.waltz A mixture of high comedy and hair raising drama, this entertaining Grand Hotel of the high seas is a mass collection of emotions. Captain Clark Gable is loved by two strong willed women: great lady Rosalind Russell and the cheap seeming Jean Harlow who longs to be classy but can't rise above crassness. The lecherous Wallace Beery is a gentleman of low class manners but hidden lust, and taking the opportunity of a possible capsizing storm to make his move on her. Other characters come in and out of the story and provide excellent support in varying character parts, and some shocking moments provide genuine horror straight out of a Karloff or Lugosi movie.Harlow is an absolute delight, sparkling with everybody from Gable, Beery and Russell to Hattie McDaniel as her lavishly dressed maid who thrills at the idea of skinny Harlow hiving her "full figure" an evening gown she intends to only take out "slightly" to fit in it. The little known Soo Yong may look like a porcelain doll but spits acid when ever in Harlow's presence. Also memorable are Lewis Stone as Gable's assistant, Robert Benchley as a drunken passenger and Dudley Digges as a nefarious crew member. Lavish and filled with a few brilliant moments (particularly the storm where a man is repeatedly run over by a rolling vehicle), this still fails to strike a really great cord because of its changing moods. Sometimes it's best to stick with one mood, although the irony of the ship being attacked by modern day pirates is rather timely.

jjnxn-1 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.

bkoganbing 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.

Tobias_R 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.