CHINA SEAS (1935) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Tay Garnett
Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery
Lewis Stone, Rosiland Russell, Robert Benchley,
C. Aubrey Smith, Hattie McDaniel, Dudley Digges
Sailing the South China Sea, with Gable as the British captain of a transport vessel, Harlow as the dame he can't quite let go of, Russell as the old flame who's traveled 15,000 miles to track him down, Beery as a pirate, Stone as a coward seeking redemption, Benchley as a drunk, and on and on. A typhoon blows up (of course), and the pirates come aboard looking for a fortune in gold, and Gable has to decide whether he wants to retire to England with Roz, or stay in the Orient with Jean, hauling cargo between Hong Kong and Singapore. An enjoyable, old-fashioned adventure yarn with some lively dialogue courtesy of screenwriters Jules Furthman and James Kevin McGuinness. The drinking game in which Harlow bounces up and down in her seat is worth keeping an eye out for.
