Red Dust (1932)

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

Director:

Victor Fleming (uncredited)

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (screen play) (as John Mahin), Wilson Collison (from the play by)

Stars:

Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Gene Raymond

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Conditions are spartan on Dennis Carson's Indochina rubber plantation during a dusty dry monsoon. The latest boat upriver brings Carson an unwelcome guest: Vantine, a floozy from Saigon, hoping to evade the police by a stay upcountry. But Carson, initially uninterested, soon succumbs to Vantine's ostentatious charms...until the arrival of surveyor Gary Willis, ill with malaria, and his refined but sensuous wife Barbara. Now the rains begin, and passion flows like water...

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Plot Keywords:

french colony | coolie | love triangle | monsoon | french indochina | 

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Taglines:

a flaming, flaming thrill!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die gelbe Hölle

Filming Locations:

Stage 6, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$408,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jean Harlow's famous rain-barrel bath is recreated in her film Bombshell (1933).

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Goofs

When Clark Gable and Gene Raymond are in the tree while hunting, after the line: 'this would be a bad country to raise children in, wouldn't it?', the cloud in the background changes dramatically.

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Quotes

Dennis Carson: Let me tell you this, I'm not a one woman man and I never have been and I never will be. If you want to take your turn...

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Connections

Referenced in Stars of the Silver Screen: Clark Gable (2011)

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Soundtracks

Appassionato in A Minor
(uncredited)
Music by Domenico Savino

User Reviews

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.