Customer Reviews

Soldier of Fortune [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THIS MOVIE'S PHOTOGRAPHY (HONG KONG, THE HARBOR, THE OCEAN, AND CLOSE UPS)WAS CUTTING EDGE IN 1955, AND IS STILL BREATHTAKING TODAY (WITH A GOOD VHS/TV). CLARK GABLE GIVES A GREAT PERFORMANCE AS A MAN'S MAN, READY TO HELP THE GREAT LOOKING (SUSAN HAYWARD), A STRONG LADY, SLOWLY WEAKENING TO "THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE", BUT STILL HOLDING TRUE TO HER MISSING/PRISONER (GENE BARRY)HUSBAND. MICHAEL RENNIE PLAYS THE GOOD COP, WITH A SENSE OF ADVENTURE, AND THE REST OF THE CAST ARE EVIL, HUMOROUS, LOYAL, AND ENTERTAINING, IN THIS IS, A GREAT 1950'S, COLOR MOVIE.

In search of her missing photographer husband, Jane Hoyt (Susan Hayward) arrives in Hong Kong and learns at the U.S. Consulate that her mission is futile, that neither the United States nor the British government can help her...

She turns in despair to Hank Lee (Clark Gable), an American soldier of fortune who runs a profitable smuggling business on each side of the bamboo curtain...

Hank is attracted to Jane's sultry red-haired beauty... He develops a personal interest in the lady, but when she repulses his advances, he realizes that the only way to win her over is to rescue her husband... Aided by an incorruptible English harbor policeman, Inspector Merryweather (Michael Rennie), he discovers that her husband is being held prisoner near Canton, where he is being brainwashed...

Hank prepares to rescue Hoyt in his powered junk, Chicago, and is annoyed to find Inspector Merryweather aboard... Since the inspector knows the nature of Hank's merchandise, he was held prisoner aboard the sailing vessel... Later, however, when Hank's crewmen desert rather than enter Red China, Merryweather, realizing that this is a rescue mission, offers his help...

Clark Gable was getting a little too old for these kinds of actions, but the film holds attention with its good yarn and its interesting locations...

Hayward looks different without her famous long tresses... This was her second movie with the tall, gaunt Michael Rennie... She had one scene with him in 'Demetrius and the Gladiators.'

Ironically, this anticommunist adventure film was directed by Edward Dmytryk, one of the 'Hollywood Ten.'

This is one of the most beautiful movies I've seen in terms of cinematography. Hong Kong was colorful and facinating, a world that doesn't exist 60 years later. I would gladly trade my old VHS for a fresh remastered DVD. The plot has been covered several times so I'd just like to mention a few individual scenes that stand out. Susan and Clark standing on the balcony with the wind whipping at them watching the typhoon blow in across the harbor. The old bartender and aging harlot marrying in the bar because "its not good to be alone when you're old" Hundreds of sampans sailing to the rescue like the US Cavalry. And of course I did mention Clark and Susan?

Terrific score and Hong Hong scenery for this action film. All the dreck's on DVD, why not this excellent movie?

Soldier of Fortune is a crowd-pleasing potboiler from the days when Technicolor was glorious (okay, it was shot in De Luxe, but the same principle applies) and CinemaScope really was CINEMA-Scope. There's not much action (the final rescue is laughably easy), but Ernest K. Gann's script is snappy fun, Clark Gable and Susan Hayward play well off each other, Michael Rennie and the colourful supporting cast more than earn their pay, Hong Kong probably never looked better on screen and there's a pleasingly lush romantic score from Hugo Friedhofer. Curious to see director Edward Dmytryk, the one member of the Hollywood Ten to recant (after being appalled at the Party's treatment of his family while he was in prison), turning in such an anti-Communist oater, but he handles it with flair. A deathless classic? Hell, no - but grand entertainment.

As well as a good 2.35:1 transfer there's a good extras package too - audio commentary by Danforth Prince, stills gallery, restoration comparison, the original theatrical trailer and trailers for Gable's The Call of the Wild and The Tall Men.

This movie has beautiful scenery! It's worth seeing for that alone.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation presents "SOLDIER OF FORTUNE" (1955) (96 min/Color) -- Starring: Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie, Gene Barry, Alex D'Arcy, Tom Tully, Anna Sten, Russell Collins, Leo Gordon, Richard Loo, Soo Yong, Frank Tang, Jack Kruschen

Directed by Edward Dmytryk

The story line is based upon the Ernest Gann novel with colorful characters doing what they do best, Gable (American mercenary), Hayward the wife searching for her husband, Gene Barry the husband and Michael Rennie trying to catch Gable at his smuggling. Gable accepts the task of finding Barry who is captive by the Chinese Communist authorities on a trumped up charge of spying -- how Gable pulls pff the rescue is the exciting venture of the story -- will he get the girl Hayward, who he has fallen deeply in love with, that my friend is what you're about to discover --- make note of some great shots of Hong Kong during that era, gives the film body as actually being there.

BIOS:
1. Edward Dmytryk (Director)
Date of birth: 4 September 1908 - Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada
Date of death: 1 July 1999 - Encino, California

2. Clark Gable
Date of birth: 1 February 1901 - Cadiz, Ohio,
Date of death: 16 November 1960 - Los Angeles, California

3. Susan Hayward (aka: Edythe Marrenner)
Date of birth: 30 June 1918 - Brooklyn, New York
Date of death: 14 March 1975 - Hollywood, California

4. Michael Rennie (aka: Eric Alexander Rennie)
Date of birth: 25 August 1909 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
Date of death: 10 June 1971 - Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, UK

5. Gene Barry (aka: Eugene Klass)
Date of birth: 14 June 1919 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 9 December 2009 - Woodland Hills, California

* Special footnote: -- actor Clark Gable was signed in 1930 by MGM's Irving Thalberg. Joan Crawford asked for him as co-star in "Dance, Fools, Dance" (1931) and the public loved him manhandling Norma Shearer in "A Free Soul" (1931) the same year. "The Painted Desert" (1931). His unshaven lovemaking with bra-less Jean Harlow in "Red Dust" (1932) made him MGM's most important star --- "Dancing Lady" (1933) Gable refused an assignment and the studio punished him by loaning him out to (at the time) low-rent Columbia Pictures, which put him in Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" (1934), which won him an Oscar,

Playing a cowboy in his last film, "The Misfits" (1961), which was also the final film for co-star Marilyn Monroe, the aging Gable diligently performed his own stunts, taking its toll on his already guarded health. He died from a heart attack before the film was released, Named the #7 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by the American Film Institute.

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

** Also available on this collection -- Clark Gable Collection (Call of the Wild / Soldier of Fortune / The Tall Men)

Total Time: 96 min on DVD ~ Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation ~ (August 15, 2006)

Soldier of Fortune was the epitome of the Technicolor Cinemascope adventure films of the 1950's and no one did them better than 20th Century Fox. Soldier of Fortune was adopted from an Ernest K. Gann novel (he also wrote "The High and the Mighty") and is a classic and rousing old fashioned adventure movie. During the 1950's, Fox shot a lot of on location films in the far east (such as "Love is a Many Spendored Thing") and the authenticity shows through (although the scenes with Susan Hayward were shot back in Hollywood because she was expecting and did not want to travel overseas). But Clark Gable carries this film and shows why he was the "king" of Hollywood for almost 30 years. This feature also stars Gene Barry and you'll see many familiar faces in the various character actors filling important roles (Michael Rennie, Tom Tully, Russell Collins, Alex D'Arcy, etc).

The film has been beautifully restored and is shown in a wide screen aspect ratio of 2.55:1 as originally presented in 1955. Beautifully photographed by Leo Tovar and competently directed by Edward Dmytryk. Hugo Friedhofer composed the sound track music and was very experienced in far eastern sounding music.

A treaured addition to any film library.

One of the most under-rated adventure movies, masterfully done in CinemaScope in a wonderful transfer. This exceptional yarn, ably written by its author, Ernest K. Gann, delivers high romance, comedy (and, yes, early 50's racism) along with dosages of chauvinism and gallantry embodied in its protagonist, Clark Gable. This 1954 picture has an experienced supporting cast, including Richard Loo and Gene Barry and the lovely Susan Hayward, as the independent, steely lady. The story however, that others may more completely tell, has stayed with me since my youth because Clark Gable (as Hank Lee) happened to have a 20mm cannon below decks in his personal sailing junk to complete his wealhy trappings. What is so remarkable about this location-shot film is that the director had to shoot all the Hayward scenes stateside during her personal divorce. And you do not notice it here, with the most flattering, seamless process shots that out-do those of Hitchcock in "To Catch A Thief." Second to the loveliness of Hayward are the superb sweeping Hong Kong shots as you follow her in search of her missing husband(Barry) and Hank Lee(Gable) driven in his Rolls Royce. Two people who meet by coincidence with a mutual goal hold off their most secret longings until the near-impossible occurs. That about sums up a lot of 1950's steamy romantic films but that is just the start of this one. At just over an hour and a half, "Soldier Of Fortune" surprisingly delivers the kind of adventure and suspense done in twice the time by today's 'auteurs.' The pacing, the colorful old-world-weary hangers-on in "Tweedies", a local bar and habitue of down-on-their luckers, add measurably to the authentic feel of post-war Hong Kong depicted so ably by the director, Edward Dmytryk.

Excellent movie, the book is better!! Having lived in Asia and some time in Hong Kong, the writer knows these areas and the culture. Makes a lot of difference.