krisreplogle This is a very entertaining movie on more than one level. Not only is there a twist at the end, love prevails, and we get to see glimpses of Asia. The dialog sparkles even 70 years after it was made, and we see the flaws in money as the only motive for a chase. I have lived in or visited many of the places seen in the background of this film, and enjoyed the visual hint that these wealthy travelers are living in a world of their own, unconnected with local people or places. Not all the backgrounds are convincing, as I think the filmmakers took artistic license, but the clothes! the manners! the relationships! are lots of fun. And nary a word about the humidity! I got a special kick out of Wye's pith helmet, a total cultural borrowing from the English in India.

blanche-2 "Trade Winds" is a comedy-drama starring Joan Bennett, Frederic March, Ralph Bellamy, and Ann Sothern, directed by Tay Garnett.Bennett plays Kay Kerrigan, a young woman who is out to avenge her sister's death and goes after her sister's ex-boyfriend (Sidney Blackmer). When Kay says she wishes she could shoot him, he hands her a gun and she shoots. Then she starts running for her life. To change her appearance, she dyes her hair dark. This turned out to be a boon for Bennett, who took on an exciting new look with the dark hair.The police send one of their own after her, Ben Blodgett (Ralph Bellamy) and one of their ex-own, the womanizing, slippery Sam Wye (March), now a detective who spends a lot of time coming on to women. He's also romancing his secretary Jean (Ann Sothern). He agrees to search for Kay and manages to get away from from Jean and hop a boat. He gets a line on Kay, and when Jean next appears, she's an assistant to Kay. Then Sam finds out there's a $100,000 award on Kay's head. Small problem - he falls madly in love with Kay.Fun comedy that slows up in the middle, with good performances by a relaxed March, a very funny Sothern, a lovely Bennett, and Bellamy as an overblown police detective. Not the best, but not bad - except for some of the process shots.

max von meyerling This is an amusing little trifle. No more or no less. A charming cast, a fast pace, snappy dialog, charming players, a very silly story and a naked and unexplained denouement. The film started with the footage Tay Garnett made during a round-the-world sail. Or at least as far as Bombay sail. What to do with this footage? Dorothy Parker and sometime husband Alan Campbell, and Frank Adams, an ex-reporter and music composer who co-wrote I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now concocted a story about a classy broad who thinks she shot and killed a man and escapes San Francisco by going west to Hawaii, Japan, China, etc. She is being chased by the World's Greatest Detective, the dumbest flatfoot on the force who never-the- less is high ranking, and said detectives secretary. So you see the background shots are used as the backgrounds of all the places they go. Miss Parker is responsible for some mighty clever lines, lines which gave Ann Southern a whole career.This was produced by independent producer Walter Wanger who released through United Artists. Wanger could do what he wanted and obtained the services of Frederick March who had previously acted in a Parker script A Star Is Born for independent producer David Selznick. March's agent was David's brother Myron. Joan Bennett was married to Walter Wanger and perhaps the most famous or even important aspect of this film is that Joan went brunette in this film and never went back. As they say. Ralph Bellamy was stuck in the middle of a career where he would get scripts to read in which characters were described as "Ralph Bellamy type". His name in the film "Blodgett" was the same as the want to be star in A Star is Born. Getting failed "B" actress Ann Southern from nowhere was brilliant. No doubt the 4' 11" Parker used the 5' 1" Southern as an avatar for her whit, especially her smart-woman-in-a- man's-world be-bop. Blodgett is a direct rip off of Shakespeare's Dogberry from Much Ado About Nothing (which might be a title suitable for this film). Sidney Blackmer is featured and appears in one scene and is out of there faster than you can say Janet Leigh. Tommy Mitchell is in two scenes, both shot on the same set, and is also featured. Wanger padding out the cast for the price of two days work.The ending is maddening. The murder is revealed to prove Bennett's innocence in the first ten minutes but the film just goes on as if nobody heard. Of course in those days people didn't worry about such things as extradition or jurisdictions so our detectives go off in pursuit. The put-upon secretary goes on after them. March and Bennett fall in love and Bennett is betrayed and sent to trial. A trap is set for the real murderer based on the idea that they will be the people who don't show up at a party. Only they do show up at the party or else there wouldn't be a climax. The thing is the murderer, the backstory, the motive or even who these people are is never explained. I guess its not really important as the story skims along purely on the surface, sort of like the drama skims in front the back projections from Garnett's journey. Everybody, that is movie goers, knew the context of film conventions. They could connect the dots. At one point March buys a ticket from a cabin on a departing ship under the name Mr. & Mrs. Jones and Bellamy and Southern are tricked into taking it. So they decide to get married. A Dorothy Parker joke. The sets are by Alexander Toluboff and a young Alexander Golitzen and the cinematography by the matchless Rudolph Maté. Garnett never made a stupid film or directed a bad scene so Wanger did his job correctly and hired the best people for his film.I guess today the film from the journey is more valuable than the negative and rights to Trade Winds. It shows a world which no longer exists and that is priceless.

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.