Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

lugonian CHINA SEAS (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1935), directed by Tay Garnett, is an adventure/drama featuring an all-star cast consisting of top-named performers as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone, the same actors who had earlier worked together in THE SECRET SIX (MGM, 1931). For this reunion, a lot has happened during those four short years. While Beery and Stone starred in THE SECRET SIX, with Harlow and Gable in secondary supporting roles, Gable and Harlow now assume the leads in CHINA SEAS while Beery and Stone support them. Reminiscing the earlier SHANGHAI EXPRESS (Paramount, 1932) starring Marlene Dietrich, shifting from a train to a shipboard vessel, each allowing for love and adventure along with Chinese bandit attacks as its focal point of interest, CHINA SEAS also includes some doses of verbal comedy to move it along.Taken from the book by Crosbie Garstin, the story gets underway with plot development and character introduction prior to the sailing of the "Kin Lung" from the port of Hong Kong to its destination to Sinpapore. Passengers of the vessel include: Sir Guy Wilmerding (C. Aubrey Smith), the management director of the line; Alan Gaskell (Clark Gable), the ship's tough captain; Dolly Portland, better known as China Doll (Jean Harlow), Alan's former girlfriend who becomes jealous over his reunion with an old flame, Sybil Barclay (Rosalind Russell), a dignified British widow; Charles McCaleb (Robert Benchley), a drunken American novelist; Jamesy MacArdle (Wallace Beery), a China Seas trader; Dawson (Dudley Digges), a chief officer; Rockwell (William Henry), a young officer; and Tom Davids (Lewis Stone), a former sea captain now reduced to third officer due to his cowardice responsible for the lost of his crew, among others. During the voyage, the Kim Lung goes through a serious typhoon before being attacked by pirates out for a shipment of 350,000 pounds worth of gold hidden away on board the ship, whereabouts known only by Gaskell. It so happens that one of the trusted passengers happens to be the ring leader holding half of the 100 pound note. After pirates attack the vessel, putting both Davids and Gaskell through the Chinese boot torture, it is up to one of the passengers to save the day. Other members of the cast include Hattie McDaniel (Isabel McCarthy); Akim Tamiroff, Donald Meek, Edward Brophy, Willie Fung and Ivan Lebedeff.An exciting production not as better known as MGM's earlier all-star productions as GRAND HOTEL (1932) and DINNER AT EIGHT (1933), but a worthy offering with elements of surprises during its 89 minutes. He-man Gable and feisty Harlow make a grand pair. Wallace Beery garners enough attention through his usual Beery-method of acting, especially in tense scenes involving him and Harlow, though not as classic as their second pairing together in the popular classic DINNER AT EIGHT (1933). It's also interesting seeing a youthful Rosalind Russell, early in her career, in her Myrna Loy-ish type performance. Let's not overlook Lewis Stone playing a frightful mate hoping to break away from his cowardice stigma. With a cast and plotting such as this, it's totally impossible for any movie buff not to like CHINA SEAS.Available on video cassette dating back to the mid 1980s in clam shell covering, and decades later on DVD, CHINA SEAS, which was at one time a late show favorite years before becoming a regular fixture on Turner Classic Movies cable channel ever since 1994. (***1/2)

mark.waltz A mixture of high comedy and hair raising drama, this entertaining Grand Hotel of the high seas is a mass collection of emotions. Captain Clark Gable is loved by two strong willed women: great lady Rosalind Russell and the cheap seeming Jean Harlow who longs to be classy but can't rise above crassness. The lecherous Wallace Beery is a gentleman of low class manners but hidden lust, and taking the opportunity of a possible capsizing storm to make his move on her. Other characters come in and out of the story and provide excellent support in varying character parts, and some shocking moments provide genuine horror straight out of a Karloff or Lugosi movie.Harlow is an absolute delight, sparkling with everybody from Gable, Beery and Russell to Hattie McDaniel as her lavishly dressed maid who thrills at the idea of skinny Harlow hiving her "full figure" an evening gown she intends to only take out "slightly" to fit in it. The little known Soo Yong may look like a porcelain doll but spits acid when ever in Harlow's presence. Also memorable are Lewis Stone as Gable's assistant, Robert Benchley as a drunken passenger and Dudley Digges as a nefarious crew member. Lavish and filled with a few brilliant moments (particularly the storm where a man is repeatedly run over by a rolling vehicle), this still fails to strike a really great cord because of its changing moods. Sometimes it's best to stick with one mood, although the irony of the ship being attacked by modern day pirates is rather timely.

jotix100 Capt. Gaskell shows up a bit drunk in Hong Kong's harbor for his trip to Singapore. He will be taking a cargo that includes heavy equipment and gold. An assortment of passengers are on board for the voyage, among them, China Doll, the former girlfriend of the captain, and and old flame, Sybil traveling to England.China Doll, still in love with Gaskell, cannot hide her disappointment when the captain clearly shows a preference for the more refined Sybil. Jamesy MacArdle has no problems getting closer to China Doll; after all, he has his own personal agenda and she will be perfect for what he is trying to accomplish.What the passengers, and crew, do not count on, is the typhoon they encounter as they get midway into the voyage. The rough seas almost wreck the ship. Some lower deck passengers, poor Chinese mainly, are killed when the heavy machinery break loose from the chains that are holding them tied firmly. Jamesy MacArdle whose plan is to steal the gold, has been working with Malay pirates that board the ship and want to get the treasure. Jamesy persuades China Doll to steal a key from Gaskell, giving the pirates access to the firearms they carry in the ship for protection. The disgraced Davids, having been blamed for the poor handling of the typhoon rises to the occasion, saving the ship by repelling the invaders."China Seas", directed by Tay Garnett was an ambitious MGM production that offered a great spectacle that involved adventure and romance. With the studio resources the film must have been impressive, even in those days without the computerized special effects. Mr. Garnett showed he had an eye for the genre as he balances the action into a film that is enjoyable because all the elements worked they way he intended.The dashing Clark Gable makes an excellent Capt. Gaskell. He showed why his screen chemistry with his co-star, Jean Harlow. They went to play opposite each other a few more times until her untimely death. Wallace Beery shows up as MacArdle, the schemer looking to steal the fortune stored in the ship. Rosalind Russell plays the sophisticated Sybil, and Lewis Stone appears as Davids. The beauty of the films from this era was the magnificent supporting casts that were put together, as is the case with this film.The DVD we watched recently seems to have been lovingly restored.

Tobias_R It is a relief to see a vibrantly entertaining film that is well-crafted as a finely made chair. Like most chairs, this film is no classic like "Citizen Kane" or "Gone With The Wind" but it's exciting with charismatic leads like Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. The chemistry between the two is gripping, even if a lot of their encounters in this movie are rather repetitious of the "I love you but I shouldn't" variety. One can see why Gable and Harlow were cast together at every opportunity MGM had from "Red Dust" onward. The other supporting actors are quite good especially Wallace Beery as a slippery villain. While Robert Benchley is quite amusing, his drunk act starts getting really old after a while. Also, it's quite sobering to realize that Benchley would die in 1945 from the effects of long-term alcoholism. In sum, despite some unhappy reminders of Hollywood's racism of times past, this is a fine film that probably served as one source of inspiration for Spielberg's Indiana Jones series of films in the 1980s.