L'aventure commence à Bombay

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.

This film is rather formulaic. Clark plays an international con man thief who falls in love with a female version of himself (Ms. Russell). While this certainly doesn't break any new ground and is a very predictable by-the-numbers MGM production, you are still left with a movie that is great fun but won't change your life. I, for one, love films like this. That's because I like the formula--as did the rest of America at the time. That's because despite its short-comings the film was dripping with quality. Both actors are at the top of their game, the writing and dialog is snappy fun and the direction is on target. All-in-all, a lot of fun and sure to please fans of this genre.

One of those Hollywood booboos - one of many - that passed their scrutinization with their typical blind eye. Both eyes, in fact., wide open but unseeing. What started off as mildly amusing, turned, post haste, into a mish-mash of morass. To begin with, Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell are jewel thieves, independent of one another in their thievery, outwitting one another in the heist of a priceless necklace owned by the grande dame, Jessie Ralph, who plays drunk well. No surprise here, they hook up by hook and crook, and continue thieving, often taking from regular old small business owners, which was not funny at all. Peter Lorre, somehow or other, shows up as another character of bad character, his specialty. No big surprise, duplicitous character, in this case, a cargo ship captain who is anxious to betray his new passengers and attain the stolen goods for a handsome reward. Eventually, and for the final too many minutes, Gable is suddenly in the military, receiving honors as a hero. Russell underplaying for a change, proves she did not have to indulge in ham when she wanted to. Gable, all smirk and grin and raised eyebrow and innuendo, is Gable. Better to get on a slow boat to China then join this crew of miscreants.

Gerald Meldrick (Clark Gable) is a wanted jewel thief. He arrives in Bombay to steal the Star of Asia from the Duchess of Beltravers. Unbeknownst to him, con woman Anya Von Duren (Rosalind Russell) has the same idea. The two thieves quickly figure each other out. They compete and end up together. After both stealing the gem at different times, they escape the authorities on board Captain Chang (Peter Lorre)'s ship to Hong Kong. They arrive with war looming over the horizon.

The first half is a fun little screw-ball caper. I like both Gable and Russell having fun with the characters and each other. It's loads of fun in a light affair. The movie eventually turns into war movie and it's not always the best. Gable and Russell get separated in a large middle section. Gable's con is a bit fun until the war breaks out. The action, the vehicles, and the gears are not the most realistic. It's also wartime in the real world and a bit of war propaganda is to be expected. This is a good pairing and one can excuse any flaws for the greater cause. The mix of a real war and light comedy is just a bit awkward.

This picture is likely to make the viewer yearn to know what went on behind the scenes during its making. The impression one gets is that about halfway through the filming (or writing of the scenario, or both) someone decided that what they had so far wasn't working, but that there was already too much invested to discard it. So from a conventional international jewel thieves romance/suspense/comedy (better than some of its type, not as good as others), the film shifts gears abruptly and becomes a wartime adventure, with our hero and heroine trapped by the battles raging around them. Having once put in some time in the military (before being asked to leave), the Gable character needs do nothing more than don a tailor-made uniform to pass as an authentic member of the corps, his presence unquestioned by any of his colleagues, his authority unchallenged by anyone to whom he issues orders. Needless to say, he becomes a war hero, awarded the highest honors despite there presumably being no record of his existence.

Wait a minute.....weren't we talking about jewel thieves? Yes, and so was the picture, no more than fifteen minutes earlier.

Don't despair - before the final credits, the two stories are reconciled about as clumsily as the rest of the picture is put together.

Could it be that this 1941 product was deemed too lightweight and frivolous for an audience whose nation was being drawn into a world war, and that the studio bosses decided to make it more contemporary? If so, they should have taken their losses on what was already written and/or filmed, because the incongruous story they released is an embarrassment.