China Seas (1935)

My Review

Get ready for lots of action and adventure on the “China Seas” with Clark Gable and company. Clark’s co-stars include Rosalind Russell as his fiancee, Jean Harlow as the ex-girl friend, Wallace Beery as a big-time trouble maker, Robert Benchley as the ship’s drunk, with Lewis Stone, C. Aubrey Smith, Dudley Diggs, Donald Meek, and Hattie McDaniel along for the ride. McDaniel and Gable would re-unite four years later in “Gone With the Wind” (1939).

Director Tay Garnett (“The Postman Always Rings Twice” 1946) and screenwriters James Kevin McGuinness and Jules Furthman hold viewers attention throughout the 87 minute running time. Producer Irving Thalberg paid close attention to the superior production values in “China Seas,” which is good escapist entertainment and the third highest grossing film of 1935 at the Depression Era box office for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was filmed at the MGM Studios in Culver City.