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The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Some movie buffs seem to think that if a movie is "pre-code" it must be good. Or, if it "sizzles," it must be interesting. Well, I like a good number of Hollywood movies made before the Hays Office enforced the studios' own code. Some definitely have sizzle. Others don't but they're good. There also are some real stinkers. Most are somewhere in between. I think a film needs more than sizzle to be very good – whether "pre-code" or later. It should have a good plot and screenplay. It should have good production qualities. It should have good sets, good camera work and good direction and editing. And the cast should all give good performances. "Red Dust" has an interesting plot, and it has lots of sizzle. But unfortunately, it suffers in most other areas. The only very good performance in the film is Jean Harlow as Vantine. Harlow has true talent that never seems to be wasted in any of her films. She has a persona of a tough cookie, and often naughty girl in most of her films – comedy or dramatic. I would like to have seen her in a different type of dramatic role, and in a wacky comedy to see how she could handle such roles. Unfortunately, she died at age 26 from blood poisoning due to kidney failure.As much as I like Clark Gable as an actor, I think he way overacts here in his character as Dennis Carson. And, for the first half of the film, he's a very unlikable fellow. We know Gable can be boisterous and cantankerous, but he's loud, complaining and grouchy to the point of being obnoxious in the early part of this film. Now, in contrast, Mary Astor plays way under her role. She gives the impression of one just biding her time as this soap opera plays out. Her performance seems wooden throughout the film. As Barbara Willis, she arrives with her husband on a boat at the rubber plantation upstream in a country of SE Asia. She changes at the drop of a coin from a prim and proper attitude at the start, to a withdrawn, apologetic milquetoast in the next scene, and then to a very familiar and perky person for a short time. Talk about mood switches in a movie. When Dennis comes on to her so quickly and blatantly, she seems to easily slip into adultery with so little struggle. Tully Marshall and Donald Crisp are OK in their roles as McQuarg and Guidon. Gene Raymond as Gary Willis is just so-so. He seems too fragile and out of place – and not because he comes down with Malaria. Perhaps they made his character that way for greater contrast with the rugged, crude and vulgar Dennis. But, I think it made the direction and casting seem weaker. Willie Fung's role as the giggling Malaysian cook, Hoy, is goofy. The rest of the supporting cast are mostly native workers.Some others have noted that the set was recycled from another film or two. It doesn't appear to have weathered very well. Pun aside, most of the settings for this movie had the feel of being on stage. I am in a different frame of mind when watching a play on stage, than I have when watching a movie. With a play, I know it's constrained and confined, so I delve more into the plot. With movies, I imagine that we're looking at a scene set in a house surrounded by lawns and woods or city, or in the outdoors that runs on and on. So I know that the characters could suddenly move outside or take off in a car. It has a sense of openness and looking down on real life from an eagle's vantage point. The production quality of the DVD I watched is quite poor. Apparently Victor Fleming directed this film, but he's not credited for it. I wouldn't think he would care that much, because this is far inferior to most of his work. I give "Red Dust" six stars for the sizzle and Jean Harlow's acting. She is a hooker with a good heart who falls for Dennis. The soap opera ending was almost laughable. Although, Gable came close to convincing one that he had repented and didn't want to ruin the nice kid, Gary's marriage. This is an early look at Gable in the days before he grew a mustache.

Directed by Victor Fleming,with a screenplay by John Mahin,Red Heat pairs two of the biggest stars of the thirties,Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. Set in the deepest jungles of Malaysia the film sees just how far the moral standards of the day could be pushed. The screen practically burns apart from the lust of the two leads whenever they're together.On a quiet rubber plantation in Malaysia, things heat up when the quick tempered manager,Dennis Carson(Clark Gable)falls for two different women.There's tough talking woman of the night,Vantine(Jean Harlow) and the fragile,pampered,uptown girl,Barbara Willis(Mary Astor). Barbara's husband Gary(Gene Raymond)is a new employee on the plantation.Further complications ensue when Gary comes down with a tropical fever and a big storm starts heading towards the plantation.The daily life of the plantation would be explored in a little more detail in the 50's remake Mogambo(with Gable reprising his role alongside Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly). The real star of this film is Jean Harlow,she gets the best lines and makes her presence felt so strongly in every scene she's in that you wish she were in all of them.If there's a weak point here it's the love triangle.It never really gets off the ground due to the casting of Astor.Never at any time can you buy Barbara as a serious rival for Carson's affections,she's too whiny and under-developed,as opposed to the feisty Vantine.Those issues aside though what's here is a lot of fun,the acting is solid,Gable is at his most rugged and much of the dialogue is rather naughty(given the era)to say the least, and the film is a great deal of fun because of it.Memorable scenes include Harlow taking a bath in full view of everyone on the plantation and Gable rescuing Astor from the tropical storm,well worth a watch.

This film was the one which really showcased Jean Harlow, fresh at MGM after a stint at Columbia, and a film or two as one of the muses of Howard Hughes.In real life she'd married and been widowed in quick succession, and although the Paul Bern scandal must have been a strain, it doesn't show here on screen. Harlow is absolutely luminous, a wise-cracking hardboiled good-time girl with a soft centre and a hint of innocence. What else could she be but a bright platinum blonde? Mary Astor, tight-laced and classy, arrives at the sexually-charged rubber plantation with feverish husband Gene Raymond, and catches the eye of wide-boy hard-man Clark Gable (a real he-man of the 'grab em by the hair' school).A fascinating slice of 1930s pre-Production Code history, 'Red Dust' sizzles and is always in heat. Remade as 'Mogambo' and apart from the addition of colour, some recasting (Gardner for Harlow, Grace Kelly for Astor, Donald Sinden for Raymond), it remained a heady brew, even down to the indefatigable Mr Gable reprising his role as Carson!

069: Red Dust (1932) - released 10/22/1932; viewed 6/24/06.KEVIN: We first saw Gable at the premiere of 'Grand Hotel' on that film's DVD. He doesn't seem to have a warming up period in this film, but is instead already at the top of his game here as Dennis, the rubber plantation owner. As is Jean Harlow, who we've seen three times before but never as cool or as sassy as she is here playing floozy Vantine (what a great name). Mary Astor (as Barbara) and Jean Harlow make an excellent pair and there's great contrast in their two characters. I got excited when they first appeared on screen together, because I knew things were going to get interesting. The character of Gary, Barbara's husband, is kind of underutilized, mainly because there's all this dysfunction going on around him and he's unaware of it. The climax definitely caught me off guard. I didn't expect Barbara to shoot him. The ending felt kind of abrupt. I say kind of, because I did feel it coming. When I felt it coming I was surprised that that was the end. I thought, "Hmm...well, I guess there's really nothing more to say." I haven't seen a film this lean on story since 'Anna Christie.'DOUG: Sex and passion flow at an Indochina rubber plantation in Victor Fleming's steamy Pre-Code drama 'Red Dust.' This film introduces us to Clark Gable, who's without his mustache at this point. He also doesn't wear an undershirt (as we see again in 'It Happened One Night'). No warm up is needed, as Gable is already acting at the top of his game. This is the forth film we've seen Jean Harlow in (after 'Hell's Angels,' 'The Public Enemy,' 'The Platinum Blonde'), and she finally gets a really juicy role here. She's very sassy, dropping one snarky and suggestive one-liner after another. I just barely recognized Donald Crisp, who was so wonderfully scary way back in 'Broken Blossoms.' My only real problem with the movie was the character of Hoy, played by Willie Fung, who does everything he can to offend Chinese people everywhere every moment he's on screen. The ending is a bit abrupt, but it's basically a happy one for all (even though somebody gets shot). I didn't think she was going to shoot him either. I fear that in watching all these Pre-Code movies together, we're taking all the things that could make it onto the screen for granted. It will be a sad time indeed when we reach the point where the Code is enforced and all the juicy violence, bawdy language, nudity, and kissing will abruptly vanish.Last film: Trouble in Paradise (1932). Next film: Night After Night (1932).