Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Dunham16 Brilliant cinematography for this period, iconic pre code banter for this period and outstanding performances by Mary Astor and Jean Harlow, two of the period's leading ladies alone assure this famous film a Hollywood classic. Clark Gable, Gene Raymond and Donald Crisp are the three leading men who perform up to the task but are certainly no match for the star women especially when Harlow and Astor have the camera to themselves. The plot is an oft repeated one of the period. A European couple whose husband is ill and whose wife is prim and proper travel to an exotic location on which they confront in melodrama a hard boiled work site manager and a hard boiled dame on the run.

GManfred Golden Age fans will love this one, a Pre-Code film that's much like a filmed stage play - in fact, it's based on a play which, by all accounts was even racier than the movie. It was made in 1932 and certainly couldn't pass muster after the inception of the Hays Office, but nowadays anything goes; odd someone hasn't tried. They would be hard-pressed, though, to find a better cast, especially the two principals. Gable and Harlow are perfect together, the animal magnetism fairly leaping off the screen. Gable was the very model of modern masculinity at the time, and Harlow his female counterpart.Some reviewers noted an element of racism woven throughout the picture, but they should give it a rest. The world in general and society in particular were vastly different from the modern PC era. Also of interest is the support cast, headed by Mary Astor, who admittedly was a better actress than Harlow but minus the manifest 'feminine wiles'. In a departure from more dignified roles, Donald Crisp plays vulgar drunk and to excellent effect.Have you seen it? If not, do so. It's well worth your time just to see how the 'pros' used to do it, inherent plot flaws notwithstanding.

classicsoncall It's always cool to come across an unexpected little gem like this, kind of makes you thankful for tuning in to Turner Classics on the spur of the moment and have your viewing decision made for you. This was a surprisingly entertaining film, due in large part to Jean Harlow's sassy presence as the woman of questionable virtue, Lily Vantine. You didn't really need a steamy jungle set with Harlow and Gable in tow, they pretty much provided their own. Speaking of which, this is probably the wettest picture I've ever seen. The actors must have been a mess most of the time while filming.The setting for the movie was kind of interesting I thought. Obviously located somewhere in the world like Indochina or the Phillipines, recurring reference was made to a town called Sagaing, or at least that's the way closed captioning spelled it. I pretty much decided that it must have been Saigon, so that would place the story in Vietnam some three or four decades prior to the conflict that would consume the globe throughout most of the Sixties and early Seventies. I just find that kind of fascinating.This was my first look at Gable and Harlow together and it was a pretty successful screen pairing. The arrival of Mary Astor at Denny Carson's (Gable) rubber plantation sets up the sparks that follow in a relationship I didn't quite get between her character and Carson. Though obviously attractive, I didn't see the appeal of her character to the masculine likes of Carson when someone like Vantine was around. But then again, maybe that was part of the challenge, and Gable plays it to the hilt. The idea that Carson attains a humble streak of nobility makes the resolution to the story credible, though I WAS shocked when Babs (Astor) shot Denny. Where did she get the gun? Other reviewers on this board note the racist elements in the story with some dismay, but I think you have to consider how films of the era reflected attitudes of the time. This was not uncommon, and viewing most stories like this today I don't get the impression that the film makers were supportive of racism, but were merely showing that it existed. With that in mind I think Hollywood helped in improving racial and ethnic relations over the course of time. With that said, I do have to admit that Willie Fung's Hoy was a pretty pathetic character.Besides the line of dialog in my summary quote, it appears that Harlow had all the best lines in the picture. Probably some of the best scenes too. The bath in a rain barrel is classic and is probably the one that will remain with you long after the rest of the picture fades from memory. Just one of the many bits here that make the picture such a treat for fans of pre-Code films like this.

A M Boyd Gable - came into his own with "Red Dust". Harlow? My lord! She went from "Red Headed Woman" to "Blonde" magnificent in this movie. Here's old Mary Astor talking like the Queen Mother and Gene Raymond (well he actually was what the character was supposed to be) and then you have Harlow, dousing in the water-drinking barrel, scraping off bird poop and exclaiming, "Whatcha been eating' - cement?" to the unwitting bird. Gable goes from Mary Astor, seated on a stool to even kiss him in one of their "magic" moments to Harlow, sawing her nails and pulling up her dress over those gorgeous legs - heck, was there nothing gorgeous about Jeanie from KCMO? Red Dust? I have seen it so many times I could do the dialog. The star in "Red Dust" - well Clark Gable is a close but Jean Harlow wins.