Powerful

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Joan Bennett, a flaming platinum blond, is accused of murdering the scion of a rich California newspaper owner. The owner's name is Bruhm with an umlaut and sounds absolutely nothing like "William Randolph Hearst." Nevertheless, the murder puts the San Francisco Police Department in a tizzy.The detective assigned to the case is the near-sighted and totally square Ralph Bellamy whose theories of the crime have the virtue of being consistently wrong. Bellamy doesn't drink, smoke, swear, or wear anything but neat tweeds and a boater. The police chief, Thomas Mitchell, having little confidence in Bellamy, also hires a private detective to work with him. The private detective is the suave Frederick March. It's always nice to see March in a white suit and pith helmet when he visits exotic places.The pair of detectives, dogged by March's secretary, Ann Sothern, track Bennett all over Asia -- from Hawaii when it was still "T.H.", to Japan, to Shanghai, to Singapore, and finally Bombay. In each place, March pursues his quarry by getting to know the local belles, while Bellamy huffs and blows his cheeks with indignation. The sets are all in the studio but the rear projections are sometimes interesting. That Shanghai street manages to really look like the street that runs along the waterfront.They catch up with Bennett somewhere along the way, but she's changed her hair color and Bellamy has no idea who she is, while March not only recognizes her but falls instantly in love with her, and the other way round. The romance is boring but the picaresque story has its slight charms.Gee, this was shot in 1937 and Japan is still full of geisha girls. And Shanghai is not yet desolate. And Singapore is full of white guys in white suits, kind of running things.Frederick March was always an underrated actor but I thought he was better in dramatic roles. Bennett -- well, I don't know where she picked up those faux English phones -- "I cahn't do it" -- when she was born just across the Hudson from New York.Dorothy Comingore is buried somewhere in the cast. A few years later she was to make another movie about the death of an important newspaperman, in which she played Wife Number Two, Mrs. Charles Foster Kane.Dorothy Parker is listed among the writers but she must have done it for the paycheck, or during off moments while visiting Robert Benchley in Los Angeles, because the script has few genuine tag lines and no acid or sophistication. Well, the dialog does give Ann Sothern a couple of hyperlearnedisms. "Whom is she?" I take it that getting drunk isn't a sign of sophistication. Unless, like me, the character becomes extremely witty and utterly winning.

I first saw this movie as a teen eons ago while my parents were busy playing cards at the home of friends, and have loved it ever since. Since my last viewing was over 20 years ago, I would love to have this on DVD to enjoy it again! I love all the characters, and lovely Joan Bennett indeed looked SMASHING as a brunette, which she kept for the rest of her long career. Very appealing was the insouciance of Fredric March's character, the smart humor of bubbly Ann Sothern's part, and the determined dorkiness of Ralph Bellamy's eager beaver character plus an interesting and engaging story.Let's get this released, people that have the say-so!

Was there ever a more relaxed, charming rogue than Frederic March? He would have been a perfect James Bond, had the role been available to him in the '30s. As it is, he made do spectacularly with this one: he's Sam Wye, a former SFPD detective, hired to find and bring back the luminous Joan Bennett, who's suspected of murdering Sidney Blackmer... When her car goes into the Bay, she swims ashore and goes on the run... The action roves as the trade winds of the title, straying from the piers of the city by the Bay to Honolulu, Singapore, Tokyo, Hanoi, and Colombo, Ceylon. Ralph Bellamy,side-hick to March, sez: "Colombo? I thought that was in Ohio..." Ann Sothern is glamorous, and Joan Bennett sizzles. This is the movie in which she dyed her hair black -- and then kept it dark for the next 50 years...leaving the blonde Bennett roles to sister Constance. As a glimpse of pre-War Asia, and an insight into the world before terrorism, this is a charming and lovely memory. You'll yearn for the time when cruise attire was more than sweatsuits and sneakers...and all this with dialog by Dorothy Parker!

In a time when the world was young and we were happy immortals and the good guys/bad guys demarcation was clearly drawn , there was an unearthly charm to the world. The portrayals by Joan Bennett, Frederick March, Joan Blondell and Ralph Bellamy charm and beguile the soul. The music of Chopin adds a touch of class and elegance.