Soldier Of Fortune (1955)

When her photographer husband (Gene Barry) goes missing in China, his wife (Susan Hayward) travels to Hong Kong in an attempt to locate him. When the local police are of no help, she contacts a businessman (Clark Gable) with a dubious reputation who may be the only man who can help her. Based on the novel by Ernest K. Gann (THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY), this is a rather formulaic adventure movie that benefits from the appealing Hong Kong locations invitingly shot in CinemaScope by Leo Tover (DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL), a lovely underscore by Hugo Friedhofer (BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES) and the powerhouse duo of Gable and Hayward in the two leads. There's really not much action in the film, the film's escape finale is almost ludicrous in how easy our heroes rescue the prisoner held by Red Chinese. But it's easy to get caught up in the glamour of it all. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. With Michael Rennie, Tom Tully, Alexander D'Arcy, Richard Loo (effectively used), Jack Kruschen and Anna Sten (Samuel Goldwyn's 1930's failed discovery) as an aging Russian hooker.