This is a very entertaining movie on more than one level. Not only is there a twist at the end, love prevails, and we get to see glimpses of Asia. The dialog sparkles even 70 years after it was made, and we see the flaws in money as the only motive for a chase. I have lived in or visited many of the places seen in the background of this film, and enjoyed the visual hint that these wealthy travelers are living in a world of their own, unconnected with local people or places. Not all the backgrounds are convincing, as I think the filmmakers took artistic license, but the clothes! the manners! the relationships! are lots of fun. And nary a word about the humidity! I got a special kick out of Wye's pith helmet, a total cultural borrowing from the English in India.

"Trade Winds" has some enjoyable moments. This Tay Garnett-directed independent feature has the beautiful and talented Joan Bennett as a murderess on the run in the Orient pursued by a skirt-chasing former policeman played by a very miscast Fredric March. The film veers from whodunit, to travelogue, to screwball comedy, to romance, to courtroom drama without much consistency. Because the major emphasis is on comedy and romance, the film needs the versatility of a Fred MacMurray in the lead. Although a fine actor, March is out of his element in a role that requires a lighter touch. The usually reliable Ralph Bellamy, who excelled as the proverbial light comic "other man" in classics like "His Girl Friday," "The Awful Truth," and "Brother Orchid," ends up as an oafish buffoon of a policeman of the type often played by Edgar or Tom Kennedy. His performance clashes with March's and at times he seems out of an alternative universe. Although Ann Sothern has a very enjoyable drunk scene, she's underutilized, and the usually reliable Thomas Mitchell is given little to do but growl as a police commissioner... wasted in a role than would have usually gone to a William Frawley. The film's inconsistencies are likely the fault of writer/director Tay Garnett, who had a lengthy but inconsistent career resume' with at least one masterpiece ("The Postman Always Rings Twice") to his credit. He did helm some films with similar elements to "Trade Winds": "One Way Passage" with Powell and Francis, "Seven Sinners" with Dietrich and Wayne, and "China Seas" with Gable and Harlow, but unfortunately Garnett never developed a consistent style, and by the 1950s he was directing TV Western series episodes like "Death Valley Days" and "Bonanza". With a steadier hand like a Howard Hawks at the helm, and more appropriate cast choices "Trade Winds" may have been a minor classic, but now it's just a curiosity. By the way, two interesting sidebars: Dorothy Parker (of Algonquin Round Table fame) was a collaborator on the script and the enigmatic Dorothy Comingore appears briefly here (under the name Linda Winters) several years before her triumph in "Citizen Kane."

Detective (March) goes on globe-hopping quest to return suspected murderess (Bennett) to authorities. He's aided by two bumblers (Sothern & Bellamy), at the same time he falls for his attractive quarry.Not quite a sophisticated comedy, not quite a picaresque chase, not quite a murder mystery- - all add up to a not very good movie. Hard to believe this is from glossy MGM since the production values are nearly incompetent. In fact, I've seen better process shots from a Lash LaRue oater, and since these make up half the movie, you've got to wonder where quality control was.I'm assuming acerbic wit Dorothy Parker and husband Alan Campbell were hired to furnish sophisticated banter for the two couples. If so, I must have missed it. What I did hear were subtle grammar gaffes from Sothern (e.g. 'whom for 'who') and clever malaprops (e.g. 'deduct' for 'deduce') from Bellamy, intended, I guess, to show their humorous pretensions, but hardly crowd-pleasers.Also, it looks like Bellamy's buffoonish cop amounts to a typical example of 30's cops when Hollywood treated them as low-comedy relief. And whose idea was it to tack on the last 10-minutes of whodunit that sort of sticks out like a glued on appendage.Where the movie does work is with the lovely Bennett and the comedically gifted Sothern. Still, it's a bit puzzling why the movie didn't turn out better given the talent involved, including ace producer Walter Wanger. Maybe it has to do with as many as four writers and who knows how many re-writes or with director Garnett's inability to forge a unifying style. But, whatever the reason, the film remains a somewhat unlikely disappointment.

If you hate process shots, you may not want to see "Trade Winds" which uses more of them than perhaps any other dramatic film of its time, as it follows a young murderess (Joan Bennett) from Honolulu to Tokyo to Shanghai to Indochina to Ceylon to India as she flees the law. But if you love Joan, her loveliness of form, face and manner compensate for a great deal. And you get to see her as both a blonde and a brunette. Although she is billed in huge letters above Fredric March and Ralph Bellamy, I'd say March, as a womanizing detective who pursues her, has more screen time in one of his lesser roles. He's not bad, just not exciting. Ralph Bellamy is saddled with an overwritten comical supporting role as an eager-beaver detective, and tries very hard to make his repetitious and predictable actions funny. Ann Sothern handles her wisecracks as snappily as ever as March's secretary, and has some effective drunk scenes, but also seems forced. At its heart, this is a deeply romantic story about love conquering all but it also has elements of screwball comedy (the supporting players), suspense (the crime, the chase, the climax), travelogue (endless process shots of the Orient as backdrops for less-than-thrilling dramatic scenes with the principals). Despite some snappy moments (particularly in the first third), ever-shifting locations, a generally brisk pace and a powerhouse writing trio which includes Dorothy Parker, the story loses its grip.