Normally, with Hugo Friedhofer as orchestrator and Lionel Newman as conductor, I'd expect the music to be the most wonderful part of the movie. I could pay that compliment to Soldier of Fortune, except there was no wonderful aspect of this movie at all. The music could have had a pleasant theme if it were scored for The Best of Everything or Imitation of Life, but for a pseudo-mystery, pseudo-foreign intrigue drama, it didn't really fit. With two powerhouse actors taking the lead, I'd expect wonderful romantic tension and great performances of a dramatic story. Ernest K. Gann's adaptation of his novel didn't translate very well on the screen, and while Clark Gable isn't given anything to do, Susan Hayward is given the wrong things to do. She plays a woman whose husband has gone missing, and she travels to his last known location, Hong Kong, to find him. From the second she makes her entrance, she doesn't act like a woman afraid for her husband's safety, or even wanting him to come back! She saunters into the room with her famous strut, capturing the eyes of every man, and calmly asks for information from bartenders, hotel clerks, and shopkeepers. When they're not helpful, she smiles and calmly thanks them. Also, she flirts with several men, not just Clark Gable. This is not the behavior of a woman concerned about her missing husband!If ever you're in the mood for an incredibly boring, poorly acted, poorly written, boring drama that doesn't really cut it in the mystery genre, you can rent Soldier of Fortune. Otherwise, stick with Clark and Suzy's finest hours. This one's just painful to sit through.

This film is better than its reputation. Susan Hayward and Clark Gable have been complained about as an unsatisfactory pair, their romance isn't convincing, and so forth, and there definitely is something stilted about their relationship, Clark goes too hard on her, and she is too much Susan Hayward to be convincing in her stiffness. The main asset of the film is the fantastic presentation of Hongkong in the 50s, with the zampans, the street life, the strange life of the Europeans and their difficulty to adapt to China, the Chinese general adds a touch of timeless tragedy to the ethnic panorama, and the Australian pub with its Russian cabaret lady adds some necessary comedy.As usual in Edward Dmytryk's films, it's a great story, and the actors are all perfect. Maybe it's a bit over-varnished, especially Clark Gable's galanterie, he is made a bit unnecessarily to overdo it, while Susan Hayward's American stupidity and duplicity goes a bit too far with her - she is too intelligent an actress to play stupid. Hongkong is the main character of the film, that's what you will remember of it, while you are content with letting Clark Gable and Susan Hayward just have their way and leave them.

This typically glossy Fox production from the 1950s, hinging on equal parts star power and exotic locations, was another title I had missed out on several times along the years; after its recent SE DVD release, I made it a point to catch up with the film next time around.Anyway, for an adventure film, it's rather talky and, even if just 96 minutes long, it devotes too much attention to irrelevant subplots involving secondary characters (including gruff bar owner Tom Tully and a comeback role for former Swedish star Anna Sten) to the ultimate detriment of major ones: in fact, Susan Hayward – who gets to interact with most of the cast – is given more screen-time than Clark Gable (which is even more surprising when one remembers that this was Gable's first non-MGM film in 20 years!) and, in spite of their billing, both Michael Rennie and Gene Barry don't have a lot to do until the climax (though, in the latter's case, it's understandable as he's a prisoner in the hands of Communist China).With respect to the narrative itself (Ernest K. Gann adapted his own novel for the screen), the film seems to fall between several stools – action, romance, politics – but, with its eye firmly on the box-office, this superficial and sometimes contrived approach ends up satisfying no one. That said, it's a generally entertaining ride – and Dmytryk handles the proceedings in an efficient, if highly impersonal, manner.In the end, I'd say that SOLDIER OF FORTUNE is the least of the 3 Fox titles released as part of the rather expensive "The Clark Gable Collection" – the others being William Wellman's THE CALL OF THE WILD (1935) and Raoul Walsh's THE TALL MEN (1955; disappointingly, this is the only one not to feature an accompanying Audio Commentary).

Gable and Hayward are great to watch and Hong Kong is the uncredited star of this flick. Admittedly, Gable was not in his prime but he had the charm and sex appeal to keep viewers, especially females, interested. There is one scene between Gable and Hayward showing the harbor entrance of a typhoon that is sexier than any current movie showing actual sex. My only complaint with Susan Hayward was her hair. Her stylist really goofed on this one. Her hair was parted in such a way that she looked like she had a "comb-over" from the back. Her clothes were perfect for her neat, compact figure. She really was an adorable woman and I'm glad that she had a happy second marriage. Richard Loo was marvelous as the anti-communist, expatriate general. His comments are as relevant today as they were in 1955. Michael Rennie was as usual the superb Brit that we all loved to watch and listen to in the '50s. But the music has always been the real hook for me. I watch this movie again and again to enjoy the wonderful music. I think David Raksin of "Laura" fame wrote the score.