Red Dust
Director: Victor Fleming
Year Released: 1932
Rating: 3.0
Influential film that stands as one of the bright moments in the early cinema, starring four tremendous figures in Hollywood: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Mary Astor and Donald Crisp (the great character actor). Despite some lags in the story (and the fact that people are being used as slaves, with Gable as their master), the dialogue is witty and delivered perfectly; compare the repartee in the early classics to the clunky gabbing in today's films (whether this is a sign of the times or a reflection of the lack of screenwriting ability is an essay in itself). We're sorely missing the Dorothy Parkers, H.L. Menckens, McCareys, Hawks' and Hechts of yesteryear.
