Red Dust (1932)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Writers:

Wilson Collison (play)
John Lee Mahin (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 October 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The owner of a rubber plantation becomes involved with the new wife of one of his employees.

Plot Keywords:

Rubber Plantation | Malaria | Surveyor | Indochina | Prostitute

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Dennis Carson
Jean Harlow	...	Vantine
Gene Raymond	...	Gary Willis
Mary Astor	...	Barbara Willis
Donald Crisp	...	Guidon
Tully Marshall	...	McQuarg
Forrester Harvey	...	Limey
Willie Fung	...	Hoy

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-G | Australia:PG | USA:Passed

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Jean Harlow's husband of two months, producer Paul Bern, committed suicide during the Labor Day break in the production. Although she was absent for 10 days following his death, scenes were shot around her and the movie was completed on schedule.

Quotes:

Barbara Willis: That's a... a very polished little speech for a... barbarian.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Indie Sex: Censored (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

There's No Place Like Home (Home, Sweet Home)

Gable, Harlow and Astor make for one good film

A pretty good movie. Red Dust is one of the films that made Clark Gable a star and it's easy to see why. In it, he plays the kind of likable rogue character that audiences would come to know him as. Gable is Dennis Carson, the operator of a rubber plantation in Indochina, who is all business until his world is turned upside down by two women. First Vantine Jefferson (Jean Harlow), a prostitute looking for a place to lie low arrives. Then a prospector and his wife, Barbara (Mary Astor), show up at the plantation. Both women are unwelcome intruders into Carson's world at first, but soon they each end up igniting his desire. Fooling around with the floozy Vantine is easy, but things get complicated when Carson's eye falls on the married Barbara. With his more than questionable actions, any other actor might have been completely unlikeable in the role, but Gable somehow pulls it off. Harlow and Astor also give very good performances. It helps that the heavy subject matter and brash duologue, adapted from a stage play, was not watered down too much for the screen version. Definitely a well made film worth seeing.