josephmcgrath-62358 what a great movie. I just watched it on TCM. jean Harlow,and Clark gable were a stupendous combo. both of their character portrayals were right up their ally. both had a crusty edge to them. gene Raymond continued to be a actor I am impressed with every time I see him, in these older movies. he was also very good in a later movie Mr. &mrs. smith with Robert Montgomery,and Carole Lombard. he plays a great straight guy character,and very unassuming,almost naive. Mary Astor was great as the unfaithful wife, with more polish than the character Harlow played, but not as happy go lucky,and not street wise. Mary Astor was beautiful, and a great actor. she adapted well as the years advanced in Hollywood. her rolls were always perfect, with her advancement. she was a talented and very sophisticated lady in real life,and a accomplished author as well. her roll in Maltese falcon, and little women showed her diversity,as well as a movie that the title escapes me with Bette Davis, George Brent. I have enjoyed the tribute to Harlow.

gavin6942 The owner of a rubber plantation (Clark Gable) becomes involved with the new wife (Mary Astor) of one of his employees (Gene Raymond).The movie was remade by director John Ford in 1953 as "Mogambo", this time set in Africa rather than Indochina and shot on location in color, with Ava Gardner in the Harlow role and Grace Kelly playing Astor's part. Clark Gable returned, twenty-one years later, to play the same character. Ford used African tribal music as the film's score.I like the idea of a film set in French Indochina, especially one made in the 1930s. Now, all anyone associated with the region is the Vietnam War (both the French and later American parts), and it is interesting to see it from another angle -- although, in a sense, it is sort of the same angle. This is very much a film about Western colonialism, even if that was not the original intent.

moonbus-982-519398 For viewers who may not be familiar with Jean Harlow, this is a terrific film to start with. Her screen presence was unmatched; certainly the sexiest actress on the silver screen until MM, and extremely well-matched with Gable. Harlow plays a sassy hooker who gets most of the clever lines ("I don't usually sleep nights.").Gable is perfectly cast as the rough plantation owner living in a thoroughly man's world with no use for women (except as playthings). The man had more screen presence in his little finger than most actors have at all. His boyishly arrogant grin after Astor slaps him is simply great.Mary Astor shines as the lady who should be above all this but who succumbs to Gable's animal magnetism. Her face as she reflects on the first wild kiss is a landscape of emotional turmoil: "Oh my God, what have I done? Wasn't it wonderful though!"--should be required viewing for any aspiring actress.There's not much plot--it's yer basic love triangle story: who's he going to end up with? The woman with class, or the sassy hooker? Astor's character is out of her depth in the jungle setting, so she's easily overwhelmed by the overly self-confident Gable-character. Gable's character is out of his depth with a woman of class; she would normally be out of reach for him anywhere else. Their dalliance makes sense only in that setting. Harlow at first snipes at her rival, Astor, but soon realizes that Astor is really only a victim and redirects her heavy artillery at Gable instead. The banter is terrific and bears rewinding as it goes by so quickly.The film lives from its dialog and clever lines. Considering that the film was made so soon after the introduction of talkies, it holds up extremely well--credit to director Fleming, no doubt. The dialog in Marocco, made two years earlier with Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich, was awful by comparison--stilted, wooden, very awkward, and cannot be attributed to lack of actors' ability, but lack of experience with talkies as a medium. Fleming showed that he had mastered it already.A few commentators have derided the film for being racist. DUH. The colonial powers occupying Indochina at the time were racist and probably treated the locals much more savagely than in the film. Sure it's painful to watch--it should be! Drop the political correctness nonsense and just enjoy the banter.

Robert J. Maxwell This is a lot of fun as long as you're not looking for poetry. It's a product of the old studio system, with actors, directors, and gofers under contract, grinding out one production after another, with a lot of seasoning and skill.Director Victor Fleming ("Gone With The Wind", etc.) was a sturdy man's man, vulgar and given to drink. Gable earned his paycheck and didn't care what the result looked like. Jean Harlow enjoyed herself, despite the long hours and the recent death of her oddball husband. Screenwriter John Lee Mahin wrote a hilarious parody of middle-brow Hollywood productions in the style of James Joyce's "Ulysses." (Last sentence: "yes -- but on a higher plane.") John Ford's remake in the mid-50s, "Mogambo", illustrates the difference that twenty years can make -- same male star, but a bigger, splashier, more worrisome production set in Africa instead of IndoChina. Gable went big game hunting. Ford thought it was disgusting.This 1932 effort takes place in a studio-bound jungle out of which Gable has carved a rubber plantation. He's been shacked up with the raucous Harlow and kicks her out before his new Administrator, Raymond, arrives. Raymond gets there on time but shows his weakness by promptly falling ill, leaving Gable alone with Raymond's inexperienced young wife, Mary Astor.Since Gable keeps tearing off his shirt at every opportunity and oozes pheromones, it isn't long before Gable sends Uriah, I mean Raymond, off for a long trek into the bush, while he balls Astor back at the Big House. By this time Harlow has returned, her exit boat having gotten stuck in the mud. She sees immediately what's up and engages in a lot of sarcastic sniping.Gable has been planning to get rid of Raymond and keep Astor for himself but discovers at the last minute that he has a heart after all. This is always the kind of realization that brings misfortune. In this case it takes the form of a bullet. But everything winds up happily, this being an old-fashioned studio production.Gable's ears are more impressive than his muscles but it doesn't matter. He's masculine enough and that's what counts. Harlow is saucy and takes a nude bath in the drinking water. That's okay with me too.As I say, it's much fun, but I did miss the usual exotic city scene with the men sporting white suits and pith helmets and an abundance of beaded curtains.