We’ll be in China before you ...

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 22

We’ll be in China before you ...

HIGH ROAD TO CHINA Directed by Brian G. Hatton Screenplay by Sandra Weintraub Roland and S. Lee Pogostin The “High Road to China” (Cinerama) takes two rickety bi-planes and a flight over the Himalayas, so this film could not by any means be described as a slow boat to that country.

It is also a lot of fun. Starting in Istanbul, our heroine (Bess Armstrong) and unwilling partner (Tom Selleck) head for Afghanistan, where they are held as “guests” of the primitive Waziri tribesmen, through Nepal and, finally, to Sinkiang Province in China. The film is set during the early, roaring 20s, and successfully captures the mood

of the time with dress, vehicles, and colour. Although he has appeared in about half a dozen other films, this is the first starring role for Selleck, who is best known as TV’s Magnum, P. 1.; and although his television role leaves me cold, he comes across surprisingly well in this movie, managing to keep a straight face through some very silly

but enjoyable situations and dialogue. In fact, the film, based on a book by the Australian novelist, Jon Cleary, can best be described as a melodramatic, comic high adventure.

Bess Armstrong, whose other major screen role was in Alan Alda’s “The Four Seasons,” has just the right elegance and pixie sense of

humour as the young, headstrong socialite who sets out to find her millionaire father — otherwise she will lose her fortune.

Selleck plays Patrick O’Malley, a down-and-out former air ace from the First World War, running a ramshackle flying school outside Istanbul, who is hired by Armstrong in the search for her father who

was last seen in Afghanistan five years before. The only way to get there is by plane, and the only ones available belong to O’Malley whose fondness for other men’s wives is matched only by his contempt for the idle rich. “High Road to China” also stars Jack Weston as Selleck’s engineer sidekick,

and Robert Morley as a villainous millionaire in great supporting roles.

It would be a pity to reveal more about the film. However, if you are looking for an evening’s enjoyable entertainment, with no nudity or too much bad language, this is one of the best around at the moment. - HANS PETROVIC