Did a poster artist ever do two Hollywood sex symbols more wrong than the person who created the image for 1932’s Red Dust seen on the left? Both Clark Gable and especially Jean Harlow look like they’re recovering from stomach flu.

Dennis Carson (Gable) runs a rubber plantation in French Indochina. One day he receives a not-so-welcome guest: Vantine (Harlow), a “loose woman” on the lam.

Despite some initial tension, they embark on a romantic relationship. Complications arise when Dennis turns his affection toward Barbara Willis (Mary Astor) instead despite the fact she’s married to his employee Gary Willis (Gene Raymond).

As I’ve noted in other reviews, I never got Harlow’s appeal as a sex symbol. Even if we ignore the hideous portrayal of her on this Blu-ray’s cover, I simply don’t think she was a particularly attractive woman.

Nonetheless, I can’t deny that moviegoers in the 1930s found her highly appealing. She and Gable formed a legendary pair across their six movies together from 1931’s The Secret Six to 1937’s Saratoga.

That last one didn’t just end the Gable/Harlow partnership. It also wound up as her final movie period, as Harlow tragically died at 26 due to health issues.

When Dust sparks to life, it does so thanks to the chemistry between Harlow and Gable. Despite the mediocrity of the project that surrounds them, they connect in a vivid manner that allows their shared scenes to kick into gear.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t become enough to turn Dust into an engaging film. It comes with the most barebones plot imaginable, as it exists to provide a love triangle without much real story otherwise.

Perhaps if Dust compensated with vivid characters or charismatic romance, those elements could balance the absence of a solid narrative. However, neither of these aspects go anywhere.

Though I find her much more attractive than Harlow, Astor’s Barbara never comes across as a logical match for Dennis. She just feels too prim and proper for the slightly wild proprietor of a remote farm.

Of course, the saucy Vantine seems like a better fit and this means Barbara can feel more like a plot device to get between Vantine and Dennis. The film too often ignores Barbara’s status as a married woman – with her husband present on the plantation! – so it can pursue the Dennis/Vantine/Barbara dynamic.

This aspect of the film just doesn’t connect, and Dust never develops any of the roles beyond thin archetypes. I like the cast but outside of the Harlow/Gable chemistry, none of them can elevate their sketchy roles.

Toss in some unfortunate – though era-typical – racism about the locals and Red Dust doesn’t connect. Its lead actors add some spark but not enough to make this an engaging tale.

Red Dust appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though it showed its age, the movie usually looked good.

For the most part, sharpness seemed fine. Some softness popped up along the way but those instances never created substantial concerns and I felt the film usually exhibited fairly positive delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Grain appeared appropriate and the film lacked print flaws.

Blacks showed solid depth, and shadows also exhibited positive clarity. Contrast didn’t excel and left us with a more gray vibe than I’d prefer, but those remained acceptable.

Like many flicks as ancient as this one, the scan clearly came from a mix of sources, and that meant noticeable anomalies at times. For instance, a short span that starts at 54:09 exhibited much heavier grain and some chunkiness not otherwise see.

Still, these instances became an exception to the rule. Overall, this was a perfectly satisfactory image for a nearly 100-year-old film.

I felt the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Dust largely matched age-related expectations. Speech tended to sound somewhat metallic, but only occasional edginess appeared, and the lines remained perfectly intelligible.

Music came without a lot of range, but the score also seemed reasonably concise. Effects veered toward the bright side of the street, but they also remained fine given their age. Given its age, this became a more than satisfactory track.

In addition to the movie’s Spanish-language trailer, we get two vintage shorts. The disc provides Over the Counter (17:39) and Wild People (17:17).

Both use the era’s two-strip Technicolor process. This basically means they feature red and green as their dominant hues and come with unappealing tones, but I guess this existed as a crucial step on the way to the vastly superior three-strip process film buffs know and love.

A musical, Counter features a young department store executive who brings in chorus girls to distract husbands so their wives can shop – and spend more money. It offers a silly one-joke reel that lacks entertainment, though Sidney Toler as the business owner bears a startling resemblance to Danny Huston.

Via People, a radio broadcast emanates from Dutch New Guinea and showcases the “primitive” inhabitants. Though I expected rampant racism, the short uses white folks in “tribal” garb rather than people of color.

Which probably still seems racist, but at least it doesn’t become the cringe-show I expected, as it feels more Flintstones than anything else. We even get some minor laughs along the way.

Because of the charge between its two legendary leads, Red Dust occasionally kicks to life. However, the flat story and thin characters make it a lifeless endeavor for the most part. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio but it lacks notable supplements. Dust lands with a thud.