China Seas **** (1935, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Hattie McDaniel, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russell, Robert Benchley, C Aubrey Smith, Akim Tamiroff) – Classic Movie Review 3688

MGM Studios assembles a top-notch cast for director Tay Garnett’s great 1935 adventure yarn of piracy and romance on the high seas.

Aboard ship Hong Kong to Singapore are dynamic, hard-drinking captain Alan Gaskell (Clark Gable), his jealous ex-girlfriend China Doll (Jean Harlow), her maid (Hattie McDaniel), hard-drinking rough diamond Jamesy MacArdle (Wallace Beery), rich English lady widow Sybil Barclay (Rosalind Russell) who gable takes a shine to, drunken writer McCaleb (Robert Benchley), boss Sir Guy (C Aubrey Smith), and crooked Romanoff (Akim Tamiroff), with Lewis Stone as Davids and Dudley Digges as Dawson.

They all seem to be enjoying themselves enormously in this spirited hokum that is full of sparky dialogue and nifty action gold-seeking Asian pirates take over the ship, thanks to Jules Furthman and James Kevin McGuinness’s sprightly screenplay (based on Crosbie Garstin’s novel) and the usual top Thirties MGM production.

Producer Thalberg wanted a movie to make money and this was it.

Also in the cast are William Henry, Live de Maigret [Liev De Maigret], Lillian Bond, Edward Brophy, Soo Yung, Carol Ann Beery, Ivan Lebedeff, Donald Meek, Emily Fitzroy, Pat Flaherty, Forrester Harvey, Tom Gubbins, Charles Irwin, Willie Fung, Ferdinand Munier, Chester Gan and John Ince.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3688

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