The opening scenes of this film reminded me a bit of how the much later "Airport" (1970) begins, where you learn a little about how the business works. In this case, the business is newsreels.
This film was produced just a year before "Gone With The Wind", but what a difference with cinematography and general sophistication between the very 1930-ish "Too Hot To Handle" and the decades ahead of its time "GWTW". And, the aerial stunts Gable supposedly portrayed here just aren't believable.
Nevertheless, it's an entertaining flick, despite its flaws. And one of the chief flaws is the likable scoundrel Clark Gable...and he was likable, but not lovable...so why exactly did Myrna Loy's character fall in love with him? Did women in the 1930s really have a total lack of good taste? Just when you think the film is preposterous, things begin to look up. Myrna Loy's brother is missing in South America, and our pals (Loy, Gable, and Walter Pidgeon) head for the Amazon where they encounter South American natives, all of whom happen to be African????? And what those African transplants fall for is just plain hokey; where in blazes does Gable's compadre get a movie projector in the middle of the jungle, let along the electricity to run it. Preposterous.
The acting of Gable, Loy, and Pidgeon is all great. But the script is pathetically foolish. And speaking of acting -- kudos to character actor Walter Connolly, who turns in a heck of a performance as Gable's newsreel company boss.
Perhaps if they had simply had Latinos playing the South American natives one could forgive the inconsistencies in this film. But this blunder is all too much.
There's nothing wrong with this film...except 78 years of sophistication. Entertaining? Yes. Believable? No. NOT a flick for your DVD shelf!
This film was produced just a year before "Gone With The Wind", but what a difference with cinematography and general sophistication between the very 1930-ish "Too Hot To Handle" and the decades ahead of its time "GWTW". And, the aerial stunts Gable supposedly portrayed here just aren't believable.
Nevertheless, it's an entertaining flick, despite its flaws. And one of the chief flaws is the likable scoundrel Clark Gable...and he was likable, but not lovable...so why exactly did Myrna Loy's character fall in love with him? Did women in the 1930s really have a total lack of good taste? Just when you think the film is preposterous, things begin to look up. Myrna Loy's brother is missing in South America, and our pals (Loy, Gable, and Walter Pidgeon) head for the Amazon where they encounter South American natives, all of whom happen to be African????? And what those African transplants fall for is just plain hokey; where in blazes does Gable's compadre get a movie projector in the middle of the jungle, let along the electricity to run it. Preposterous.
The acting of Gable, Loy, and Pidgeon is all great. But the script is pathetically foolish. And speaking of acting -- kudos to character actor Walter Connolly, who turns in a heck of a performance as Gable's newsreel company boss.
Perhaps if they had simply had Latinos playing the South American natives one could forgive the inconsistencies in this film. But this blunder is all too much.
There's nothing wrong with this film...except 78 years of sophistication. Entertaining? Yes. Believable? No. NOT a flick for your DVD shelf!