Gable and Rosalind Russell play a couple of jewel thieves who meet in ..... well, guess where, and keep running into each other thereafter. It's a fairly formulaic film carried on the charms of the leads; director Clarence Brown can't overcome the MGM gloss to provide the screwball details that the first half of the film really needs, although Peter Lorre as a shady and unctuous tramp steamer captain is a lot of fun. I have the feeling Miss Russell replaced Myrna Loy at some stage in the production and the first couple of reels show damage. Clarence Brown directs the comedy bits for everyone but the two leads, a telling indictment of his opinion of their chop. Even worse, William H. Daniel's high-lit camerawork makes Miss Russell look a trifle jowly.

This film has a choppy plot with a mix of genres and its screenplay doesn't fit them together very well. But, it has a fine cast of actors in interesting roles, and is quite entertaining. It's also eerily prophetic about an event of WWII. Two independent thieves, unaware of each other, have their eyes set on the prize Star of Asia. Each has his/her own plan and way of going about nabbing the prize. That's the setting for the start of "They Met in Bombay."Clark Gable is Gerald Meldrick (aka, Captain Houston), and Rosalind Russell plays opposite him as Anya Von Duren. Jessie Ralph is wonderful as the Duchess of Beltravers. Matthew Boulton is excellent as the persevering and frustrated Inspector Cressney. Reginald Owen is superb as the general in charge of the British forces in Hong Kong. Eduardo Ciannelli is the perfect hotel manager in Bombay. And, Peter Lorre looks the role for his Chinese Captain Chang who commands a freight ship. What starts off as a comedy caper soon turns into a chase and escape adventure with romance. By the film's end, the adventure turns into war action and the romance turns into love and reform. The ending is an uncanny twist with history. Gerald and Anya are in Hong Kong when the Japanese Army nears the city. Masquerading this time as a captain in a Canadian regiment – which he had served in before, Gerald is ushered into active service in the Hong Kong garrison. He leads a convoy to rescue Europeans and Chinese in an outlying village from the advancing Japanese army. The war action takes place here, and Gerald's heroics save the convoy from a Japanese ambush. He is wounded and is presented the Victoria Cross – the British counterpart of the American Medal of Honor. His actions and his falling in love with Anya lead to their reform. So, they give up the gem they stole and Gerald plans to return to military lifeAs I said, the story is quite far-fetched, but interesting and entertaining. The movie was based on a story by John Kafka. One might think that he and/or MGM had an uncanny premonition of the turns that were about to take place in the war. This film was released on June 27, 1941. Less than six months later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The next day, Dec. 8, Japan began its assault of Hong Kong. A heavily outnumbered British force of 11,000 men withstood the Japanese Army and six Japanese bomber squadrons for 18 days before running low on ammunition and supplies and having to surrender on Christmas Day, 1941. About 4,500 British troops were killed and 6,500 taken prisoner. The Japanese lost 2,750 men. Although the film is fictional, the General probably would be Maj. Gen. C.M. Maltby. The combat scenes with the Japanese were likely filmed in the Santa Monica Mountains, west of Los Angeles. The film appears to have a scene from Bombay with the opening credits. The sets are quite opulent and real. This is an example of the Hollywood studio arts and crafts of being able to make sets and stage scenes that appear to be the real thing in the real place. The Chinese village that Captain Houston goes to rescue looks like something right out of China – not a set in the hills outside Los Angeles. The street scenes in Hong Kong give the feel of a sprawling Chinese city. The opening has a scene of Gerald's friends in crime making an imitation of the so-called Star of Asia. We never know what kind of a jewel it is. But, it's probably a star sapphire. There's also no specific value attributed to the gem. There is a real Star of Asia though. It's a 330-carat star sapphire. It is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. The deep blue gem was mined in Burma (today's Myanmar), and is said to have belonged to the Maharajah of Jodhpur at one time. An even larger blue sapphire is the Star of India. The 563-carat gem is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It has a colorful history that includes being heisted in 1964 from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The unusual stone, with stars on both sides, was recovered the following year. It was mined in Sri Lanka around the year 1600, but much of its past before the 20th century is clouded. Here are a couple funny lines from exchanges early in the film between Anya and the Duchess of Beltravers. Duchess, "Do you read much?" Anya, "Oh, a little." Duchess, "Oh, I'm glad to hear it. No woman should read much. Every line in my face comes from reading some book or another." Later, as the two imbibe, the duchess says, "Well, I carried my children like a lady, and I carry my liquor like a gentleman."

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.

Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell had worked twice together before. Russell was a supporting player in two of Gable's previous films, China Seas and Forsaking All Others. But in They Met in Bombay they make a bright pair of competing and then cooperating thieves.Bombay is in fact where they do meet, both of them working individually on a caper to steal a really big diamond belonging to inebriated Dutchess, Jessie Ralph. When they discover who each really is, there's some antagonism, but the police chasing them forces some cooperation which becomes more and more willing as the film progresses.The pair eventually arrive in Hong Kong and I dare not say more, but some of Gable's con games involve him something far bigger than he can handle as the plot takes some unbelievable turns.Gable and Russell worked well together, it's a pity that this was their only teaming on the big screen. Look also for good performances by Peter Lorre as the sly Chinese freighter captain and Reginald Owen as the British General and Matthew Boulton as the frustrated British police inspector. Also if you look fast you'll see Alan Ladd in a minute part as a British soldier in a scene with Gable while the leads are in Hong Kong. They Met in Bombay is fast paced and very funny and still holds up remarkably well today.