SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Reptileenbu
Did you people see the same film I saw?
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
vincentlynch-moonoi
First, be sure to read the review by st-shot. His summary statement is a classic! How do I hate thee, oh movie? Let me count the ways: First, the first third of the film (after the murder) -- where they are trying to establish Frederick March as a playboy detective -- is about the worst waste of celluloid in the history of the American cinema. It makes him -- and women -- look like fools.Second, okay, so Joan Bennett went from blond to brunette. If that's the most notable thing about this film it tells you a lot about how bad this film really is.Third, Ralph Bellamy's part is so dumb. I'd blame the big studio for forcing such a dumb part on him, but this was an independent film. A shame, because as we all know, Bellamy was a fine actor.As st-shot points out, this film includes "some of the worst back projection in film history"...and what's more, that makes up a good half of the film.Frankly, when the cobra shows up, I was hoping it would somehow put an end to March and Bennett, and that we -- the faithful viewers -- would be put out of our misery.Now, in all fairness, this movie isn't all bad. The love scenes between March and Bennett are actually pretty decent. And Ann Southern is very pleasant on screen, although I'm not sure that her presence is at all logical. The last third of the film is decent and has an interesting plot twist, although how the right people show up at a party is rather bewildering; I guess it made sense to the screenwriters...too bad it was so confusing to the audience (as several of our reviewers have noted it).It would be easy to excuse this poor film by noting that it was made way back in 1938. But that's just a year before "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard Of Oz" and half a dozen other notable masterpieces. I give this one an "D". Don't waster your time.
mukava991
If you hate process shots, you may not want to see "Trade Winds" which uses more of them than perhaps any other dramatic film of its time, as it follows a young murderess (Joan Bennett) from Honolulu to Tokyo to Shanghai to Indochina to Ceylon to India as she flees the law. But if you love Joan, her loveliness of form, face and manner compensate for a great deal. And you get to see her as both a blonde and a brunette. Although she is billed in huge letters above Fredric March and Ralph Bellamy, I'd say March, as a womanizing detective who pursues her, has more screen time in one of his lesser roles. He's not bad, just not exciting. Ralph Bellamy is saddled with an overwritten comical supporting role as an eager-beaver detective, and tries very hard to make his repetitious and predictable actions funny. Ann Sothern handles her wisecracks as snappily as ever as March's secretary, and has some effective drunk scenes, but also seems forced. At its heart, this is a deeply romantic story about love conquering all but it also has elements of screwball comedy (the supporting players), suspense (the crime, the chase, the climax), travelogue (endless process shots of the Orient as backdrops for less-than-thrilling dramatic scenes with the principals). Despite some snappy moments (particularly in the first third), ever-shifting locations, a generally brisk pace and a powerhouse writing trio which includes Dorothy Parker, the story loses its grip.
stltape
I like romantic comedies, mysteries, and adventure films. Trade Winds is a combination of all three. Fredric March plays a San Francisco private detective who is hired by the police department to follow and arrest Joan Bennett,who is believed to be guilty of a murder and has fled across the Pacific Ocean. She is very good looking so they send a department detective, Ralph Bellamy, with him to make sure he brings her back when he catches up with her. Ralph Bellamy never knows quite what is going on and supplies some comical moments through out the picture.In one scene, at a race track, he asks Fredric March, would you like to see your sister bet on a horse? Fredric March replied, my sister is a horse. Fredric March of course falls in love with Joan Bennett and then has to prove her innocent.
kmk-3
Was there ever a more relaxed, charming rogue than Frederic March? He would have been a perfect James Bond, had the role been available to him in the '30s. As it is, he made do spectacularly with this one: he's Sam Wye, a former SFPD detective, hired to find and bring back the luminous Joan Bennett, who's suspected of murdering Sidney Blackmer... When her car goes into the Bay, she swims ashore and goes on the run... The action roves as the trade winds of the title, straying from the piers of the city by the Bay to Honolulu, Singapore, Tokyo, Hanoi, and Colombo, Ceylon. Ralph Bellamy,side-hick to March, sez: "Colombo? I thought that was in Ohio..." Ann Sothern is glamorous, and Joan Bennett sizzles. This is the movie in which she dyed her hair black -- and then kept it dark for the next 50 years...leaving the blonde Bennett roles to sister Constance. As a glimpse of pre-War Asia, and an insight into the world before terrorism, this is a charming and lovely memory. You'll yearn for the time when cruise attire was more than sweatsuits and sneakers...and all this with dialog by Dorothy Parker!
