HotToastyRag
Normally, with Hugo Friedhofer as orchestrator and Lionel Newman as conductor, I'd expect the music to be the most wonderful part of the movie. I could pay that compliment to Soldier of Fortune, except there was no wonderful aspect of this movie at all. The music could have had a pleasant theme if it were scored for The Best of Everything or Imitation of Life, but for a pseudo-mystery, pseudo-foreign intrigue drama, it didn't really fit. With two powerhouse actors taking the lead, I'd expect wonderful romantic tension and great performances of a dramatic story. Ernest K. Gann's adaptation of his novel didn't translate very well on the screen, and while Clark Gable isn't given anything to do, Susan Hayward is given the wrong things to do. She plays a woman whose husband has gone missing, and she travels to his last known location, Hong Kong, to find him. From the second she makes her entrance, she doesn't act like a woman afraid for her husband's safety, or even wanting him to come back! She saunters into the room with her famous strut, capturing the eyes of every man, and calmly asks for information from bartenders, hotel clerks, and shopkeepers. When they're not helpful, she smiles and calmly thanks them. Also, she flirts with several men, not just Clark Gable. This is not the behavior of a woman concerned about her missing husband!If ever you're in the mood for an incredibly boring, poorly acted, poorly written, boring drama that doesn't really cut it in the mystery genre, you can rent Soldier of Fortune. Otherwise, stick with Clark and Suzy's finest hours. This one's just painful to sit through.
clanciai
This film is better than its reputation. Susan Hayward and Clark Gable have been complained about as an unsatisfactory pair, their romance isn't convincing, and so forth, and there definitely is something stilted about their relationship, Clark goes too hard on her, and she is too much Susan Hayward to be convincing in her stiffness. The main asset of the film is the fantastic presentation of Hongkong in the 50s, with the zampans, the street life, the strange life of the Europeans and their difficulty to adapt to China, the Chinese general adds a touch of timeless tragedy to the ethnic panorama, and the Australian pub with its Russian cabaret lady adds some necessary comedy.As usual in Edward Dmytryk's films, it's a great story, and the actors are all perfect. Maybe it's a bit over-varnished, especially Clark Gable's galanterie, he is made a bit unnecessarily to overdo it, while Susan Hayward's American stupidity and duplicity goes a bit too far with her - she is too intelligent an actress to play stupid. Hongkong is the main character of the film, that's what you will remember of it, while you are content with letting Clark Gable and Susan Hayward just have their way and leave them.
Owen Eather
Saw this as a boy on Saturday afternoon. The DVD has all the lush, superb photography and stunning music that Cinemascope knocked you out with. It placed Hong Kong in my mind as the "exotic" place in China, with a sober overtone of British discipline at the time. The plot is necessarily contrived, but believable enough. Characters veer to stereotypes but the acting rescues them from going over the cliff and its satisfying to see the very professional, sometimes charismatic cast bring vitality to even the smallest part - the "defrocked" Magistrate still reading the Wedding vows being one. Gable, admittedly looking very worn, but fir for all of that, and Haywood dominate the film, but Rennie is dignified and shows the right touch of understatement, typifying the type of decent and selfless Englishmen who were the British Empire's backbone and now long departed the scene. Action, locale and dialogue are mixed deftly by the director. It is a blessed relief to be carried along by a film without the current use of manic editing of current film makers. Sit back and let this classic piece of adventure and visual entertainment wash over you. If the final scene on the Peak Tram Staion, Friedhoffer's atmospheric score overwhelming your reason and old Hong Kong spread seductively below,when Gable gets the girl, does not tingle your every movie nerve, nothing ever will
Gerald Doempke
One of the classics made in the 1950's, when Hollywood took you to exotic places with wonderful romances and great adventures. This movie is possibly Ernest K. Gann's best. Only competition is his High and the Mighty, but personally I have always admired Hank Lee and been in love with Jane Hoyt. Bigger than life characters, among a superb cast of wonderfully colorful characters. On her first viewing, my wife commented that there were parallels with Casablanca. My immediate response is that Hank Lee is no Rick Blaine. Hank is something else. A sensitive hero, but a go-getter, rather than a tortured soul. Despite the new skyline, this movie reminds you of the Chinese side of Hong Kong. The ride up the tram to Victoria Peak becomes something extra special after watching this movie. Pop up some corn, sit back, and escape into a world of great adventure.
AD
