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Clark Gable as gentleman-thief
The "Star of Bombay" is a legendary precious stone. It hangs around the neck of the duchess of Beltravers (Jessie Ralph). Two jewel thieves have designs on it, but their strategies differ: Gerald Meldrick (Clark Gable) is a "gentleman-thief" in top hat and white shawl who considers himself an artist and resides at the Ritz. In order to come into possession of the stone he poses as commissioner of Lloyd's of London and offers his services to take care of the stone. Anya Van Duren (Rosalind Russell) on the other hand, plans to worm her way into the confidence of her prey. She succeeds in making the duchess drunk and seizes the stone. But a fake "Star of Africa" is put in circulation too...

They flee from Bombay (Gable in tropicals in a wild chase under palms) to a ship with destination Hong-Kong. But the chinese captain of this ship (Peter Lorre with glued-on eyelids) is a traitor: Since 10.000 pounds have been set on Gable's head he plans to extradicate him. Gable and Russell pass themselves off as runaway lovers and vacillate between the confession of how much they loathe their immoral existence and the desire to get rid of each other. Finally they escape from the ship. In Hong-Kong Gable poses as captain of the army and recruits an entire regiment. He forces the chinese to open the safe with the stone, but his plans to escape disguised as missionary are thwarted when the japanese invade the country. He is ordered to evacuate 130 european and chinese civilians from a monastery. Since this is a film, he intimidates the enemy rather quickly. Now we get to see an impressive scenery and an expensive-looking battle in the mountains. During a hail-of-bullets, he manages to sneak behind enemy-lines and throws some hand-grenades on them. He is wounded, but recovers and is decorated with the Victoria-cross.

Quick: name the sexiest criminal according to Hollywood: Yes, it's the "gentleman-thief". Since the penal-code is full of equally promising crimes I wonder: why don't they make a movie about a sexy hit-and-run-offender or and attractive polluter...In the long list of actors who played gentleman-thieves, the seductively sensitive Ronald Colman (Raffles, 1930)and the amiably crazed John Barrymore (Arsene Lupin, 1932) stand out. The audacious Edward G. Robinson (The amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, 1938) and Cary Grant in Hitchcock's "To catch a thief" are equally good. Gable is brazen and sexy and smart. He and Russell do what they can, but even their joint efforts cannot save this script. The film looks exotic and expensive and some scenes are funny, like the one when they exchange secrets of their trade (Drug the victims and smash their heads with an axe, Gable suggests). Jessie Ralph is a battleship of a duchess: ("I hate caviar: It's like eating golf-balls"). Gable and Russell order "a cabin for two" and she forces him to sleep in a shabby corner and once she exclaims:"It belongs to me. After all, I was the one who stole it". Her outfit is hilarious: With her headkerchief she looks like the sphinx - with a hat better suited for Ascot on top of it - Her co-stars try very hard not to break down laughing. But this is not enough to sustain the entire film: The dialogue should have been wittier, snappier...

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JEWEL THIEVES IN INDIA.
Gable plays a suave jewel thief named Gerald Meldrick. While in India, he encounters an equally smooth lady crook named Anya Von Duren; both are after the same loot: a diamond penant owned by Duchess Jessie Ralph...This is a surprisingly underrated and entertaining sleeper in which both stars are seen in rare form. Their styles are light and assured, and even though the story is quite preposterous, the smart dialogue is made smarter by the expert comic delivery of Gable and Russell. The love story angle is hardly believable, but it doesn't really matter: Gable is in fine form as the thief (who is also a master in posing) and Roz is superb as usual. Their particular talents are exqusitely exploited in this adventure farce which was never meant to be taken seriously in the first place! Peter Lorre plays Captain Chang - who exploits the duo to the police inspector. But, alas, they escape - again ...

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Somewhat Stream of Consciousness
"They Met in Bombay" is a curious film because although Rosalind Russell and Clark Gable meet in Bombay, they seem to get a move on and wind up in several different places, trying out several different plot line developments. It's not necessarily a bad movie, but you wind up feeling lost because of all the upheavals. Features Peter Lorre as an Asian sea captain.