They Met at MGM

Aren't they spectacular? That's what stars look like, kids.

What I don't understand is how they could have made a picture together that I have literally never heard of. Granted, it's not reputed to be in the top few of either of their oeuvres, but still: it's Roz and Clark. Not to mention Peter Lorre, Jessie Ralph, and my favorite smarmy 30s ethnique, Eduardo Cianelli, all directed by Clarence Brown, art directed by Cedric Gibbons, and gowned (well, at least Roz and Miss Ralph) by Adrian.

It's called They Met in Bombay, which certainly sounds promising.


It sounds pretty diverting, too; the leads are rival jewel thiefs, it features exotic settings (the title city, followed by a chase across the China Seas to Hong Kong), and it even has a patriotic twist when Clark reforms and ends up a war hero.

It sounds like a kind of combination of a screwball caper like Palm Beach Story or Jewel Robbery combined with In Which We Serve, but how bad can a 1941 MGM A-feature like this be? Especially if it features a stateroom-surprise scene?

Not to mention the prospect of Roz in a very Sylvia-Fowler-recalling hooded frock, Clark reprising his It Happened One Night deshabille, and Peter Lorre in yellowface?

Has anybody seen it? Is it a hidden demi-gem or something worth giving a miss? Enquiring minds want to know!