''Soldier of Fortune'' is a 1955

DeLuxe Color DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sele ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, ani ...

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

about the rescue of an American prisoner in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in the 1950s. It was directed by

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was an American film director. He was known for his 1940s noir films and received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for '' Crossfire'' (1947). In 1947, he was named as one of the Hollywoo ...

, starred

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

and

Susan Hayward Susan Hayward (born Edythe Marrenner; June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975) was an American film actress, best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories. After working as a fashion model for the Walter Thornton Model A ...

, and was written by Ernest K. Gann based on his 1954 novel.

Plot

Jane Hoyt arrives in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, looking for her husband, reckless photojournalist Louis. He entered Communist China without a visa and was imprisoned as a suspected spy. She goes to see

Hong Kong Marine Police The Marine Region is a branch of the Hong Kong Police Force, more widely known as the Marine Police. The marine police patrol of waters within the territory of Hong Kong, including 263 islands. The Marine Region with about 3,000 officers, an ...

Inspector Merryweather, who found Hoyt's cameras on the junk that took him into China. He can offer little help. During their conversation, he mentions American expatriate Hank Lee, who is a big name in smuggling and other shady activities. She decides to arrange his escape, so she contacts Hank. He advises her to give up the foolhardy venture, but she refuses. She foolishly meets Fernand Rocha alone and gives him a $500 deposit to set up a rescue, but he merely gambles the money away and locks her up for his lecherous purposes. Word reaches Hank in time to save her. Having fallen in love with Jane and realising that she will not let herself get involved with him while her husband's fate remains uncertain, Hank decides to rescue the man himself. Inspector Merryweather is inspecting Hank's boat when Hank decides to make his attempt, and gets

shanghaied Shanghaied may refer to: * Shanghaiing, or forced conscription * ''Shanghaied'' (1915 film), a film starring Charlie Chaplin * ''Shanghaied'' (1927 film), a 1927 American silent film * ''Shanghaied'' (1934 film), an animated short film starring M ...

into helping rescue the husband, who is being held in prison in Canton. Louis is freed. Merryweather is forced to help Hank fight off a pursuing Chinese gunboat. When they return safely to Hong Kong, Louis graciously bows out of his wife's life, allowing Hank and Jane to get together.

Cast

as Hank Lee *

as Jane Hoyt *

Michael Rennie Michael Rennie (born Eric Alexander Rennie; 25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was a British film, television and stage actor, who had leading roles in a number of Hollywood films, including his portrayal of the space visitor Klaatu in the s ...

as Inspector Merryweather * Gene Barry as Louis Hoyt *

Alexander D'Arcy Alexander D'Arcy ( ar, ألكسندر دارسي; 10 August 1908 – 20 April 1996) was an Egyptian stage, television and film actor with an international film repertoire. Career Born Alexander Sarruf in Cairo, Egypt, D'Arcy, variously credited ...

as Rene Dupont Chevalier (as Alex D'Arcy) *

Tom Tully Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for hi ...

as Tweedie, owner of Tweedie's Bar *

Anna Sten Anna Sten ( ua, А́нна Стен; born Anna Petrivna Fesak, December 3, 1908November 12, 1993) was a Ukrainian-born American actress. She began her career in stage plays and films in the Soviet Union before traveling to Germany, where she st ...

as Madame Dupree *

Russell Collins Russell Collins (born Russell Henry Collins, October 11, 1897 – November 14, 1965) was an American actor whose 43-year career included hundreds of performances on stage, in feature films, and on television. Early life Born in 1897 in Indiana ...

as Icky, piano player *

Leo Gordon Leo Vincent Gordon (December 2, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American character actor and screenwriter. During more than 40 years in film and television he was most frequently cast as a supporting actor playing brutish bad guys but oc ...

as Big Matt *

Richard Loo Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1982. Early lif ...

as General Po Lin, an impoverished exile who offers to guide Jane to Macao to see Rocha, but is taken off the ferry by the Communists *

Soo Yong Soo Yong, (, originally Young Hee (楊喜); October 31, 1903 – October 29, 1984) was a Chinese-American actress. She acted in twenty-three Hollywood films and numerous television shows, mostly in supporting roles. Among them were '' The Good ...

as Dak Lai *

Frank Tang Frank Tang (born Dai Jung Tong) was a Chinese-American character actor, filmmaker, community leader, and restaurateur who was best-known for directing the 1936 Cantonese-language film ''Sum Hun''. Biography Frank was born in San Francisco int ...

as Capt. Ying Fai *

Jack Kruschen Jacob "Jack" Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio. Kruschen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. ...

as Austin Stoker, Lee's assistant * Mel Welles as Fernand Rocha *

Grace Chang Grace Chang (born 13 June 1933), known in Chinese as Ko Lan (葛蘭), is a Hong Kong-Chinese actress and singer. She was a popular idol in the 1950s, especially among students and the middle class. She was a renowned Cathay Organization actress w ...

as Prostitute (uncredited)

Production

The film was based on a novel by Ernest Gann published in October 1954. Gann had lived in Hong Kong in his youth working for a telephone company and always wanted to write a book set there. He moved there in 1953, hired a Chinese junk and researched and wrote the novel. Gann's novel attracted the interest of film studios before it had been published. His novels '' Island in the Sky'' and '' The High and the Mighty'' had just been filmed with

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...

and Wayne became interested in purchasing the film rights. However, film rights went to

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

, who had a deal with Clark Gable, and Gable asked them to buy the novel as a vehicle for him.

Buddy Adler E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for 20th Century Fox studios. In 1954, his production of ''From Here to Eternity'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and in 1956, hi ...

was assigned to produce, Edward Dmyrtryk to direct and Gann to write the script. Susan Hayward signed to play the female lead after

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...

bowed out. Hayward, however, was in the middle of a divorce and could not take her children to Hong Kong with her. She offered to pull out of the film. Instead, she was allowed to remain in Hollywood and shoot all her scenes on the studio backlot. To give the illusion of her presence in Hong Kong, a few brief outdoor scenes were shot at some of the city's landmarks, showing Gable together with a Hayward double whose back was to the camera. In one instance of this, Gable and the Hayward double were shown entering the doorway of a building in Hong Kong. In the next scene, Gable and Hayward were shown walking onto a Hollywood set that was supposed to be the building's interior. The opening and closing credit scenes of the film, featuring Gable looking out at the harbor skyline, were staged on the

Peak Tram The Peak Tram is a funicular railway in Hong Kong, which carries both tourists and residents to the upper levels of Hong Kong Island. Running from Garden Road Admiralty to Victoria Peak via the Mid-Levels, it provides the most direct route and ...

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

was going to play the police inspector, but then decided he did not want to go to Hong Kong, so the role was taken by Michael Rennie. The rest of the unit left for Hong Kong in November 1954 for five weeks of location filming. This was the first of four CinemaScope productions filmed by Adler’s units in Asia in the mid-fifties.

References

External links

* * * *
Hong Kong filming locations for ''Soldier of Fortune''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soldier Of Fortune (1955 Film) 1955 films 20th Century Fox films 1955 adventure films Cold War films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Edward Dmytryk 1955 romantic drama films Films scored by Hugo Friedhofer Films set in China Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong Films based on American novels American romantic drama films CinemaScope films 1950s American films American adventure films

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links