JohnHowardReid Associate producer: Albert Lewin. Producer: Irving Thalberg. Copyright 6 August 1935 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. New York opening at the Capitol: 9 August 1935. U.S. release: July 1935. Australian release: 25 December 1935. 9 reels. 89 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Captain Alan Gaskell, skipper of the "Kin Lung" on its way to Hong Kong with a valuable cargo aboard, is angered to find his mistress, China Doll, on board. To complicate matters, Alan's classy British fiancée, Sybil Barclay, has booked passage on the vessel. To console herself for Sybil's presence, China Doll involves herself in a drinking bout with Jamesy MacArdle, a scoundrelly China Seas trader. She manages to drink him under the table after winning a good deal of money from him. A torn fragment of a hundred pound note is among the bills and China Doll suspects that the Oriental writing on it could be important. Meanwhile, Gaskell has maneuvered the vessel through a typhoon and when he returns to his cabin he finds China Doll there. He misinterprets her presence.NOTES: Negative cost: $1 million. Initial domestic rentals gross: $1.5 million, placing it equal 4th at the U.S./Canadian box-office for 1935. Fortunately the movie also took big money in England and Australia.Carol Ann Beery is Wallace Beery's real-life adopted daughter. This was the fourth of the six films made by the screen team of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow.COMMENT: Grand entertainment from a grand cast. Every role is perfectly played, with Beery coming across most effectively as the Harlow- smitten pirate. (Hard to believe that he actually detested Harlow in real life. What a consummate actor!). Garnett's direction with its fluid camera movement and rapid pacing takes full advantage of the film's spacious sets and exotic production values. Great action, with Gable noticeably doing some of his own stunts. Benchley is amusing and there are enough agreeable sub-plots to keep interest really humming.For once, here is a cult favorite that all of us can all enjoy. Most expansively produced, superbly crafted entertainment, brilliantly directed by the then master of pace, verve and vigor, Tay Garnett, at the peak of his career. And it's available on a superb Warner DVD.

jjnxn-1 Rollicking fun with the MGM sheen at its height. Jean and Gable were always a great match and they continue here as a doxy and a ship's captain. The script is serviceable enough to not stretch belief too far, what is more fantastic is that Jean would be traveling on a China tug in white satin no matter how striking it is, same goes for Clark in his white captain uniform but that's Metro for you. This is the last of Jean's true brassy platinum blonde roles. For the short time she had left in her regrettably too brief career she softened her look and her roles were heading to the more ladylike end of the spectrum, for instance Wife vs. Secretary. Rosalind Russell is just starting out here too stuck in one of what she referred to as her Lady Mary roles, full of good diction and the graaaand manner her great flair for comedy wouldn't be tapped for several years, she's fine but knowing what she's capable of she feels constrained. The rest of the cast is terrific with Wally Beery and Robert Benchley standing out in full bodied characterizations. Keep in mind that this was made in the 30's so racism and sexism are on full display in a very casual way.

blanche-2 A good cast and lots of action highlight "China Seas," a 1935 film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery and Rosalind Russell. Gable plays Alan Gaskell who is captain of a ship sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore. He's in love with the refined Sybil Thorndike (Russell) and attempting to reform his some of his bad habits. He has a constant reminder of his former life, however, and that's his old girlfriend Dolly (Harlow) who wants him back. When the ship is hijacked by pirates looking for gold, Gaskell wonders how much Dolly and her drinking buddy, MacArdle, were involved.Gable and Harlow worked extremely well together and give good performances here, and there's a lot happening - a typhoon and the pirate attack - which make for good adventure.Derivative but very enjoyable.

Noirdame79 This was the first film I saw that paired Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. I expected a lot from it and I was not disappointed. They were one of the finest screen teams of the 30s.In a way, the plot is like RED DUST on the high seas. Gable is again in charge of a location and the leader of men, including a crew of Asians. Harlow is again the woman of easy virtue with a heart of gold. Rosalind Russell, in an entertaining turn as Sybil, Gable's long ago love, is a comedic and decidedly more classy dame who captures Captain Gaskill's attention, and who incites China Doll's jealousy. Wallace Beery, who worked with both Harlow and Gable in "THE SECRET SIX" and with Harlow in the 1933 classic "DINNER AT EIGHT" is enjoyably slick and subtly shady as Jamesy. But it is the chemistry between Harlow and Gable that really holds this movie together. They obviously had great respect and liking for one another, and this only cemented their working relationship on-screen. My favorite lines, one spoken by China Doll: "When I want you to sound off, Golden Bells, I'll pull your rope!" The other by Gaskill, with that unmistakable Gable grin: "And as a man said when they were about to hang him, 'This will be a lesson to me.' " It's a gem, and don't pass it up.