Thanks for the memories!

hyped garbage

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Blistering performances.

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....

One of the classics made in the 1950's, when Hollywood took you to exotic places with wonderful romances and great adventures. This movie is possibly Ernest K. Gann's best. Only competition is his High and the Mighty, but personally I have always admired Hank Lee and been in love with Jane Hoyt. Bigger than life characters, among a superb cast of wonderfully colorful characters. On her first viewing, my wife commented that there were parallels with Casablanca. My immediate response is that Hank Lee is no Rick Blaine. Hank is something else. A sensitive hero, but a go-getter, rather than a tortured soul. Despite the new skyline, this movie reminds you of the Chinese side of Hong Kong. The ride up the tram to Victoria Peak becomes something extra special after watching this movie. Pop up some corn, sit back, and escape into a world of great adventure.

Soldier of Fortune marked Clark Gable's first film away from MGM after his contract was not renewed. 20th Century Fox did right by him, gave him a film to shoot on location in Hong Kong and an actress who was at the height of her career as a new leading lady in Susan Hayward.This was the second big epic film they shot in Hong Kong that year, the other being Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. Unlike the William Holden- Jennifer Jones epic, Soldier of Fortune leans more to adventure and intrigue than romance.Hayward's husband Gene Barry is a prisoner of the Chinese government, apparently having taken some pictures he shouldn't have as a freelance photo journalist. Hayward's in Hong Kong to try and affect a rescue and she comes up against some unscrupulous types including Gable. Gable's more interested in her, but helping the husband's rescue is a package deal.I would have hoped that with the one and only teaming of Gable and Hayward a better story could have been found. Soldier of Fortune isn't a bad film, hardly the worst thing either of them did, but in essence it's really a souped up Grade B adventure saga. The class of the players make it seem more than it is. Plus the fact it was done on location as opposed to the backlot of 20th Century Fox.Soldier of Fortune has a good cast of character actors. Look for some good performances by Michael Rennie as the British inspector, Alexander D'Arcy as a conniving French rogue and Tom Tully as a slimy influence peddler.