Aventura no Oriente

I don't think I have ever seen Clark Gable in a bad movie, or with a sub par performance and this 1941 black and white film is no exception. Gable maintains his swagger throughout as Gerald Meldrick, a con man with a quick wit and an endless supply of phony names and costumes, but he is eventually positively influenced by his new romantic partner in crime Anya Von Duren (Rosalind Russell) and he finds himself outmatched when it comes down to the crunch to continue living a life of crime always on the move at a moments notice to avoid the authorities, or to do the right thing and fight for his country.

The film has a bit of romance, a bit of comedy, a bit of a con job and a lot of charm.

I give it a highly respectable 8 out of 10 IMDB rating. It is the type of film that is over before you want it to be finished. It is quite entertaining even some eight (80) years later. I must be an old soul because I just love these TCM movies.

Gable and Rosalind Russell play a couple of jewel thieves who meet in ..... well, guess where, and keep running into each other thereafter.

It's a fairly formulaic film carried on the charms of the leads; director Clarence Brown can't overcome the MGM gloss to provide the screwball details that the first half of the film really needs, although Peter Lorre as a shady and unctuous tramp steamer captain is a lot of fun.

I have the feeling Miss Russell replaced Myrna Loy at some stage in the production and the first couple of reels show damage. Clarence Brown directs the comedy bits for everyone but the two leads, a telling indictment of his opinion of their chops. Even worse, William H. Daniel's high-lit camerawork makes Miss Russell look a trifle jowly.

'They Met in Bombay' had a lot going for it. Having Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre in the same film, a really conceptually interesting story and a talented director being the primary ones, plus MGM were responsible for many classics of all genres (especially musicals) that are too numerous to list.

On the most part, 'They Met in Bombay' doesn't disappoint. Not quite one of those completely living up to high expectations and exceeding them, but it nearly does and in no way a waste of potential. 'They Met in Bombay' is not necessarily great. It is uneven and disjointed for reasons that will be explained later and actually have been covered already in previous reviews. 'They Met in Bombay' having said that is also very entertaining, would classify it as a good film that is hard to dislike and with nothing to be offended by.

Good things are a great many. Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell are terrific in the lead roles, particularly Gable. Lots of charm and with great comic timing, their chemistry sparkles. Peter Lorre, Reginald Owen, Matthew Boulton and Jessie Ralph give nice support, Lorre and Boulton coming off most memorably.

Production values are lovely to look at, particularly the crisp photography. The score is suitably peppy and the direction sees someone with a lot of talent doing a more than solid job. 'They Met in Bombay' goes at a snappy pace, the script is funny, witty and surprisingly sophisticated and the story for the near-perfect first two thirds is immensely engaging with plenty of well done scenes (including a hilarious scene in a beauty parlour).

It is a shame that the last third is not as good. The pace slackens, the wit and sophistication disappears and the patriotic element that is introduced feels heavy-handed and almost tacky, it just felt very misplaced. With the more action-heavy and political edge 'They Met in Bombay' did feel like a completely different film, and one that wasn't near as interesting or entertaining as the first two thirds (which only had the predictability to fault it).

Also thought that Gerald's character went through a character change to a more heroic personality trait that also jarred, almost like there were two different Geralds.

Concluding, a good and entertaining film let down by a disappointing final third that was enough to bring the film's quality quite a bit. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Plot: a jewel thief and a con artist are rivals in the theft of a valuable gem as the Japanese army invades China. Much more glamorous and romantic were Arsène Lupin or the jewel thieves with plenty of class, style and pizzazz in ¨Raffles,¨"Trouble in Paradise," and "Grand Hotel,"

It was great to see another little remembered Gable film made before he went off to war. When he was paired with Rosalind Russell in "China Seas", they met in Hong Hong and traveled by ship to Singapore. Here, they meet in Bombay and travel by ship to Hong Kong, under quite different circumstances, as fugitive jewel thieves. In general form, this film reminds me of the later "The Big Steal", a chase thriller-screwball romantic comedy combo in an exotic locale, involving a man and woman, unknown to each other, looking for the same thing. Toward the end, it turns into a forerunner of "The Great Imposter", with Gable successfully fooling the British Hong Kong garrison into believing he is a British officer, who happens to be passing through. This gets him into more hot water than he bargained for, as the Japanese invade Hong Kong(as they actually did less than a year later!). Peter Lorre doesn't fool anyone as the supposedly Chinese captain of the ship taking the thieves to Hong Kong. This is mostly Gable's film. Sometimes, I wondered if I was looking at a deglamourized Heddy Lamarr instead of Rosalind Russell. All in all, an entertaining, if silly, romp, with Gable still looking in peak form and seeming to enjoy himself.