Strong and Moving!

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Ernest K. Gann wrote this novel in 1954, and the movie was adapted and produced in 1955. Maybe at that time and in that era, the novel and the movie would be recognized as romantic and adventurous, but if viewed through the eyes of a more modern guy nowadays, the novel actually sucks big time and the movie, just terrible and laughable.What made a wife came to Hong Kong looking for her missing husband? And how could it possible this faithful wife become an unfaithful and fickle woman and fell for the other guy so quickly, start flirting and even kissing willingly? All the expatriate foreigners with different nationalities seemed to become a bunch of mean and worthless lowlifes, and there was only one guy who by the description of the novel and the movie, a black market smuggler/gangster, an underworld darkside person wearing white suits, living high and luxurious on the hill of Hong Kong, yet at the same time gave off an irresistible charming aura so strong that would turn this faithful wife into an opposite one immediately. Love at first sight? This movie only got about 3% of several nice ingredients, 97% were just garbage. The scenes of Hong Kong in 1954 or 1955 were documented nicely and worth keeping, Susan Hayward was beautiful and sexy as usual, Clark Gable, on the other hand, aging so old with blurry eyes but still tried very hard to give off his charm. And that 3% of the goodness is just about it. Laughable screenplay and unbelievable scenario, cartoon-like supporting actors all looked like clowns and jerks, if without these totally unnecessary figures, this film would have nothing to patch up between the ridiculous rescue and the laughable sudden change of heart romance.

Fiery Jane Hoyt, played by Susan Hayward of the blazing red hair, arrives in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong in search of her husband, Louis, a photographer who disappeared while on a shoot in Mainland China. Louis, played by Gene Barry, entered China illegally without a visa and has been detained by the Communist authorities. Hayward enlists the aid of a shipping magnate with connections, Clark Gable, to locate her husband and bring him out. While the chemistry between Hayward and Gable is lukewarm at best, an on-screen romance ensues, which undercuts the credibility of Hayward's portrayal of a loving faithful wife in search of her missing husband. The gruff mature Gable, who incongruously has adopted three Asian children, makes the moves on Hayward, who stoically receives his kisses and allows him to hold her hand across a table. Actually, the coolness between Gable and Hayward is a torrid fire compared to the freeze between Barry and Hayward. Thus, both the motivation for Hayward's journey to Hong Kong in search of her missing husband and her attraction to Gable are undercut by the lack of warmth between the actors; what the script says and what the performers suggest are miles apart. When not being pursued by Gable or other wolves on the prowl, Hayward searches the city for information on her husband. The search brings her into contact with a number of supporting players, including Michael Rennie, Alex D'Arcy, and Tom Tully, and several distracting subplots, which only serve to remind viewers that the film was adapted from a novel by Ernest K Gann, who also wrote the script.Director Edward Dmytryk keeps the action scenes going at a decent pace, and Hayward's search is initially intriguing. However, even Dmytryk can do little with the unconvincing love affair or the lack of chemistry between his three stars, who acquit themselves professionally, but no more. Leo Tover's colorful cinematography captures an exotic, but now bygone, Hong Kong of junks, sampans, and stunning vistas of mountains and bays. Set in the 1950's, "Soldier of Fortune" would make an ideal double bill with "Love is a Many Splendored Thing," a more successful romantic film that shares both location and period with the Gable-Hayward vehicle. The Dmytryk film has much in its favor: an exotic locale, fine cinematography, two top stars, an able supporting cast, and a fairly good story. Unfortunately, "Soldier of Fortune" is one of those movies that is worth seeing, but less than the sum of its parts.

The film in which "The Brooklyn Bombshell," Susan Hayward, met "The King of Hollywood," Clark Gable, 1955's "Soldier of Fortune" is a middling adventure that should have been much better. In this one, Hayward journeys to Hong Kong to begin her search for her missing husband, a journalist being held prisoner in mainland China, and enlists the aid of junk-fleet smuggler Gable as a last resort. If this scenario of a journalist being held captive by an Asian Communist country strikes anyone as being implausible, just consider what is happening in North Korea today, and the plight of newswomen Ling and Lee! Anyway, with old pros like Gable and Hayward, the film is certainly well acted and interesting, and the two, in their only screen pairing, DO have a nice chemistry. They are ably abetted by Gene Barry (as Susan's husband) and Michael Rennie (as a sympathetic British police officer), and the scenery of mid-century Hong Kong is at least as spectacular as that shown in "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" and "The World of Suzie Wong." Unfortunately, the picture has its problems. Despite being scripted by Ernest K. Gann, from his novel, the story seems inadequately fleshed out, and several subplots (that bar wedding, the Chinese ex-general) peter out and seem pointless (maybe they are there simply to add color?). Perhaps worst of all, the rescue of Barry from his jail on the mainland is accomplished waaay too easily; if only WE could send some can-do guys into North Korea to conk a few heads and waltz those women out! Hayward did not go to Hong Kong during the filming of this picture, and though director Edward Dmytryk (who would make another movie based in China that same year, "The Left Hand of God") & Co. work their magic, this fact is sometimes distractingly obvious. I must add that I enjoyed "Soldier of Fortune" more during a repeat viewing, with lowered expectations. But then again, I can watch Susan Hayward in anything....

This isn't one of the worst all time films, but it has nothing going for it. The heroine is a pale, lackluster sort, and it's strange that hero Clark Gable, surrounded by gorgeous Asians, would even glance at her, but he does. She searches for husband Gene Barry, who is a prisoner. Surprisingly, it is this meager, incredulous love triangle that is the only thing even remotely interesting in this movie. There is an attempt at action, and a lot of fist fighting and tough talk, but it is all very boring. No one cares. Plus, the lack of motivation makes it even more boring. This was "Fight Club" half a century earlier. There are also attempts at grand scenery, and over the top characters. One is supposed to think that the characters of the film hold the attention of everyone in the continent of Asia, all the time. No one knows why. No one cares. The grandeur and splendor is all hum drum and very weak.