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      Soldier of Fortune

      1955 1h 36m Action List
      Reviews 61% Audience Score 250+ Ratings Jane Hoyt (Susan Hayward) comes to Hong Kong to find her husband, Louis (Gene Barry), a photojournalist who has been missing for three months. Learning he is being held captive by the Chinese government, she seeks the help of smuggler Hank Lee (Clark Gable), who has a shady reputation for being able to get anything done. Jane and Hank are instantly attracted to each other, but Jane will not abandon her husband. To win her heart, Hank must find a way to rescue Louis. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: B- Mar 10, 2013 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Our fallen man has redeemed himself as a red-blooded Commie hating American. Rated: C+ Mar 29, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Steve D Movie takes far too long to Clark Gable but it is really interesting and exciting. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/30/23 Full Review Audience Member I am surprised to see this movie in Rotten Tomatoes... This is one of my favorite films... Filmed on location in the far east, with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward, the story is from an Ernest Gann book widely read in its day... The situation is still the same now as then... one moral of the story being do not go into China withput a visa or suffer the consequences... Newsmen are suspect now as then... no government likes prying eyes... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Cita en Hong Kong [1955] Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Susan Hayward plays a somewhat idealistic wife searching for her missing photographer husband when she comes in contact with American expatriate Clark Gable, who may just be a gangster. It was refreshing to see actual Asians cast as Asian characters in this, which was still not all that common 1955. Richard Loo puts in a particularly cool supporting performance as a desperate, deposed general, longing for his mother land. Keep an eye out for giant, frightening character actor Leo Gordon as a barfly hoodlum. And Alexander D'Arcy as a drunken Frenchman and occasional bar fighter (all in good fun, of course). Don't blink, or you'll miss the film debut of the shockingly prolific James Hong. The main storyline works best as a framework to hang all these cool actors off, playing interesting, seedy people living in a wild city where justice depends on the gold in your pocket. Also unusual is the location shooting, actually in Hong Kong. Not a great movie, but a very fun watch, especially if you're a fan of spotting 'that guy' actors. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Things were so much simpler back in the 50's, at least they pretended like it was. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Soldier of Fortune (1955) This is one of those anti-communist movies that came out in the 50s. It was written by Ernest Gann, who also wrote "The High and the Mighty" It was directed by Edward Dmytryk (one of the Hollywood 10), who had to prove himself or continue to be black-listed. This movie is about Hong Kong and was going to be filmed in technicolor and cinemascope all on location, however, Susan Hayward was going through a messy divorce at the time, and couldn't leave the country to be on location for any extended time, so they used a double for the Hong Kong scenes and did most of Hayward's scenes in the studio. Jane Hoyt (Hayward) has just arrived in Hong Kong, trying to find her Husband, Louis Hoyt (Gene Barry) who is a photo journalist who has sneaked off to Communist China and believed to be captured there. She has tried to get some help from Inspector Merryweather (Michael Rennie) of the Hong Kong Marine Police, but she's forced to have to search among the seedy low-lifes and gangsters of the city to get more information. Jane turns in despair to Hank Lee (Clark Gable), a lovable rouge and smuggler who has a lot of connections with mainland China. Hank falls in love with Jane, and frankly needs to find Louis just to get a chance with her. Although Gable is 54 years old, and getting a little too old for this kind of thing, he's built like a brick outhouse and still has what it takes to take care of business. My other favorite characters were Rene Chevalier (Alexander D'Arcy) as yet another lovable rouge, and Po Lin (Richard Loo) as the expatriated General forced to make his money assisting tourists. The movie is pretty cheesy and clichéd stuff, but it's a good popcorn movie. and the cinemascope is excellent for the widescreen TVs. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Soldier of Fortune

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Jane Hoyt (Susan Hayward) comes to Hong Kong to find her husband, Louis (Gene Barry), a photojournalist who has been missing for three months. Learning he is being held captive by the Chinese government, she seeks the help of smuggler Hank Lee (Clark Gable), who has a shady reputation for being able to get anything done. Jane and Hank are instantly attracted to each other, but Jane will not abandon her husband. To win her heart, Hank must find a way to rescue Louis.
      Director
      Edward Dmytryk
      Screenwriter
      Ernest K. Gann
      Production Co
      20th Century Fox, Twentieth Century Fox
      Genre
      Action
      Original Language
      English
      Runtime
      1h 36m