Red Dust: A Review

RED DUST

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Jean Harlow.

Passion among the white savages abounds in Red Dust, a sultry story of steamy romance in the jungle. With strong performances and a fast run time, Red Dust tells us a lot without showing us all.

Rubber plantation head Dennis Carson (Clark Gable) is forever barking at his workers and desperate to have a good product. He has little time for anything else, which is why the sudden appearance of brash Vantine (Jean Harlow) startles and irritates him. Vantine is a good-time girl who is trying to hide out from the Saigon cops for some unspecified but shady reason. Despite his initial hostility, they do manage to hit it off in more ways than one soon enough.

Things are looking all right until engineer Gary Willis (Gene Raymond) shows up with his patrician wife, Barbara (Mary Astor) show up. Gary's constitution is not up to the jungle surroundings and has to be nursed to health. Barbara and Dennis soon start being drawn to each other, much to Vantine's displeasure and Gary's obliviousness. As the rainy season begins, the passions collide in fiery ways. Dennis now has to decide whether it will be the tart or the lady, but will both reciprocate or find that even in the sweltering Asian heat, there is room for only one mistress?

Red Dust is full of fiery passion from Gable and Harlow, these two figures obviously drawn to each other but generally unwilling to admit it, at least outside the bedroom. Harlow is wonderful as this tough broad, mouthy, belligerent and unafraid to speak her mind. In the beginning, she seemed a bit hesitant and mannered in her performance, but she soon got into the spirit of things.

"This place is full of lizards and cockroaches as it is," she tells Dennis when attempting to find another room after she unexpectedly shows up at the rubber plantation home. Gable's Dennis merely looks her over and replies, "One more won't hurt". I don't think Vantine got what he said. However, their scenes are always wonderful to watch. Shortly after this scene, Vantine can wax rhapsodic about how Gorgonzola cheese is made, which is in turns funny and almost daring. 

That is the quality that Harlow brings to Red Dust, a mix of tawdry and gleeful sensuality with a hint of naivete. Whether she is aware of how dumb she sounds attempting to explain slapping methods to get cows to make milk or toying with Dennis, Harlow excels in Vantine's brazen manner. The scene where she is openly bathing is daring for even pre-Code Hollywood. 

Dennis, horrified that Vantine might be seen by Barbara, demands that she draw the curtains specially placed for Barbara. Vantine reminds Dennis that everyone has gone far off so there is no risk of her being observed nude. He insists on drawing the curtains, which only makes her more mocking in manner. "What's the matter? Afraid I'll shock the Duchess?" is Vantine's quip to Dennis' faux moralism. 

She is obviously contemptuous of Barbara and especially her liaison with Dennis for a variety of reasons. While she is jealous, she is also upset that Gary is being deceived. Vantine may be a tramp, but she has a heart and knows right from wrong. At the end, Vantine stands by her man, proving that she was right for Dennis. We end up liking Vantine, and that is a credit to Jean Harlow's performance.

Gable is surprising beyond how he does not have his usual mustache in Red Dust. He is rugged and daring, commanding the screen whenever he is there. It is easy to see why both Vantine and Barbara fell for him. To be fair, given how milquetoast Gary was, it was no competition. Nevertheless, Gable was abrasive when it was necessary, romantic when needed and even playful. He and Harlow worked so well together, like seeing two of a kind square off.

I think that Astor was more mannered as Barbara, coming across as a bit stilted in her performance. However, as she was meant to be something of a grande dame, I think director Victor Fleming got the correct performance out of her. 

Fleming also managed to move things quickly, with Red Dust running at a brisk 83 minutes. He gets great performances out of his cast, able to shift from Vantine's brazen manner to a more contemplative Dennis when Gary tells him about how much he loves Barbara. While Red Dust could not show everything (the camera movement when Vantine and Dennis first kiss with her on his lap away from them to the observing parrot being suggestion enough), it was quite open about the sexual goings-on.

I think some things don't work so well, mostly due to the changing times and technology. Some of the rear screen projections look awful. The comic relief from servant Hoy (William Fung) might not be palatable to some viewers today. The pronunciation of Saigon as "Say-Gone" versus the more familiar "Sigh-Gone" was always odd.  

Red Dust is a showcase for Jean Harlow, revealing what made her both beautiful and a popular character. Daring and funny at times, Red Dust is like Vantine: bold, brash, sometimes outrageous but never dull.  

DECISION: B-