China Seas (1935)

Overrated

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is funny, sexy, exciting, and every bit as resonant today as 1935- really saying something for a post-Code picture.It's MGM of the period all the way. Bang bang bang, nonstop action, mile-a-minute dialogue. Basically a shameless retread of Red Dust, I actually like it a lot better than Red Dust. It's also got a dash of Shanghai Express, which is fine. Maybe it's the fact that I'm drawn to "souls at sea"" pictures and ensemble films about disparate groups thrown together by fate, their bizarre stories intertwining.And what an ensemble this film boasts: There's Harlow, who by now could act, working her sex-clown routine with total confidence- fierceness to the Nth degree. Acing scene after scene, playing off Gable and Wallace Beery and Hattie MacDaniel (who has a rare good role, although not as substantial as it could be) just wonderfully. She should have gotten a Best Actress nomination for this. Then there's Gable as Gable. Roz Russell is stuck playing one of the dour, humorless Brits MGM frequently cast her as in the thirties (see also Night Must Fall and The Citadel ). Donald Meek and Lewis Stone and Robert Benchley and plenty of others, all making the most out of their bits.The stories are tight, every character compelling, and great dialogue all wonderfully pieced together. I don't often agree with Leonard Maltin or find his assessments of films too astute, but he is completely correct when he calls China Seas "impossible to dislike."China Seas, a minor title in the classic film library, is the film to show to win people over to the "Black and White" side and show them how exciting and entertaining a classic movie can be.

This film might be worth seeing just for the cast, but here are some reasons why I cannot rank it highly:1. I'll admit that Harlow does show different sides of her character in "China Seas", but throughout most of the film she is just shouting as are many of the cast.2. Gable may be the best thing in this film, but his role does not give him much to work with.3. I can't say I was drawn into the story. Most of the interesting moments take place during the brief portion that involves the pirating of the ship. And this is a film about mostly unlikeable characters.4. Rosalind Russell is interesting to see so early in her career and because she is not playing her usual larger-than-life character. Here, she fairly fades into the bulwark, though, next to the other actors who are chewing up the scenery.5.Harlow's eyebrows. Sorry, but those drawn-on clown eyes practically negate all of her charms.6. I can't buy the choices Gable's character makes at the end of the film. I understand his attraction to the shipping life, but not his attraction to a certain woman.

Three MGM stars brawl their way from Hong Kong to Singapore in this Far East shipboard adventure that never picks much steam relying instead on the reputation of its stars to keep course. Capt. Gaskell (Clark Gable) prepares to take his ship on it usual route across the China Sea with a variety of passengers from all walks. The voyage is complicated for Gaskell however when a current flame Dolly ( Jean Harlow ) and a long lost one Sibyl (Rosalind Russell) book passage. The captain must also contend with typhoons, pirates and securing the safety of a fortune in gold. When Sybil begins to wedge herself more into the picture with Gaskell Dolly behaves badly and irrationally throws in with Jamesy ( Wallace Beery ) whose in league with the pirates.There's some decent wisecracking by Harlow in this lemon of a star vehicle for the three but for the most part it's a cacophony of yelling between them while Russell remains composed and undeveloped. Robert Benchley is also on board to provide comedy relief but seems as if he was filming one of his shorts subjects on the same set. Content to let the stars do what they do best China Seas squanders sub plot possibilities as well as give little attention to a scene that calls into question Gaskell's cold immorality regarding life and injury. Instead it chooses to keep the film in safe waters and dazzle you instead with the glow of its stars. Man the lifeboats.

MY RATING- 7.1A fairly entertaining romantic adventure with Gable having to deal with the dumb blonde Jean Harlow. She's very sexy here, and this mov helped to create the myth. Also starring Wallace Beery as the bad guy, Rosalind Russel as the old Gable's sweetheart, and a nice little performance by Lewis Stone.The mov contains some crude and unecessary violence like in the scene some colossal machines crush poor chinese fellows.