Back in 1932 Clark Gable teamed up with Jean Harlow for the second time. The film Red Dust was such a hit that MGM decided to continue pairing the two for a grand total of six films. This pre-code film was also remade in 1953 as Mogambo by John Ford with Clark Gable playing in the same role.
Gable is a rubber plantation owner in French Indochina. Harlow is a loose woman on the run from trouble in Saigon. She ends up staying at the plantation and starts a flirtatious relationship with Gable. Soon an engineer (Gene Raymond) shows up with his wife to work for Gable. The engineer is out of his league in the jungle but thinks it’s a great opportunity for his career. He doesn’t realize that his wife (Mary Astor) and Gable have started having an affair behind his back much to the chagrin of Harlow.
The film is pretty entertaining. The remake sets the film in Africa with Ava Gardner in the Jean Harlow role and Grace Kelly in the Mary Astor role. It isn’t bad but it’s a little tamer than Red Dust. On the weird side of things when Mogambo was released in Spain in the 1950’s adultery wasn’t allowed on screen so the film was dubbed turning Grace Kelly and her husband into brother and sister but they didn’t edit out them sleeping together in the same bed. Ah censorship.
