This film was not exactly meant to be Shakespeare nor appeal to film snobs. Nope. This movie is pure unadulterated 1930s pre-code sleaze! Now, some might see this as a terrible thing, but today it's really a lot of fun to see just how far some films from major studios pushed the film making envelope. There is little doubt that just a year or two later, this film would have not been made and its 1950s remake, MOGAMBO, is a lot tamer and sophisticated film.
In MOGAMBO, Gable is a hunter and tracker that takes rich slobs on safaris. In RED DUST, he works at a rubber plantation in Southeast Asia. Along the way, he meets up with a cheap but sweet dame (Jean Harlow) but soon forgets about her when he is introduced to sophisticated (but also trampy) Mary Astor. Astor and Gable fall in love (it's really more like "lust") but don't know what to do about Astor's decent husband. The only one who REALLY knows what to do is Harlow, that insists Gable run off with her and leave that marriage intact. Well, what happens next is for you to see. The film is great for fans of Gable or Harlow and is fine entertainment on a purely unsophisticated level.
In MOGAMBO, Gable is a hunter and tracker that takes rich slobs on safaris. In RED DUST, he works at a rubber plantation in Southeast Asia. Along the way, he meets up with a cheap but sweet dame (Jean Harlow) but soon forgets about her when he is introduced to sophisticated (but also trampy) Mary Astor. Astor and Gable fall in love (it's really more like "lust") but don't know what to do about Astor's decent husband. The only one who REALLY knows what to do is Harlow, that insists Gable run off with her and leave that marriage intact. Well, what happens next is for you to see. The film is great for fans of Gable or Harlow and is fine entertainment on a purely unsophisticated level.