I almost gave up on the movie, it was so dull with such a tired plot of a couple of thieves working against each other and falling in love. It had no energy. We've all seen the same thing done better. I just felt, "Oh, I don't want to go through this." But then it started to pick up, or morph into a different movie that I preferred. With that movie a person could think, "How are they going to get out of THAT." Gable did a nice job directing his troops, as it were, with an air of authority that wasn't entirely bluffing. I was SO grateful that Russell didn't turn up with a group of orphans that they had to rescued!! That would have left me screaming at the TV. Gable and Russell never got all mushy, never got out of character as the hard-nosed types who would steal missionaries' clothes and passports, as Grant and Russell stayed in character in His Gal Friday. I would have given this more stars if it had skipped the first movie and enlarged on the second. One of the things that interested me about this movie is it didn't show the Japanese as vicious thugs trying to take over the Far East, or even the world. As far as Gable and Russell were concerned, they were just people who were in the way of escape and it didn't matter one bit if they occupied the town or not. Of course the movie had to end as it did in that era. Nobody would have gone to see it if it hadn't. But at least we were spared the charming orphans bit.
Review of They Met in Bombay
