Tom Selleck famously missed out on playing Indiana Jones due to his Magnum P.I. commitments, but High Road to China offered him the opportunity to star in his own globe-trotting adventure. While it never reaches the heights of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it remains an enjoyable Sunday afternoon romp, now re-released on Blu-ray from Toy Robot Video.
Selleck plays a freelance pilot in 1920s Turkey who is hired by wealthy American Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) to help find her missing father before her inheritance vanishes. Accompanied by his loyal sidekick Struts (Jack Weston), he heads towards Tibet armed with little more than vague clues and considerable optimism.
What follows is a familiar mix of adventure staples: emergency landings, narrow escapes, suspicious strangers, and plenty of peril along the way. The story rarely surprises, but there’s an easy charm in watching the heroes stumble from one predicament to the next, despite the Howard Hawks-type rapid-fire banter often falling flat.
The search eventually leads to Eve’s father, played by the ever-reliable Wilford Brimley, who is defending a remote Tibetan settlement from invading forces.
The film’s biggest weakness is that it’s almost too polite. It has all the ingredients of a classic adventure, including daring flights, exotic locations, and Selleck’s effortlessly charismatic screen presence, but it lacks the spark that elevates good adventure films into great ones.
Still, High Road to China is an amiable, easy-going adventure with appealing performances, impressive scenery and a leading man perfectly suited to the role of handsome daredevil. It may never soar, but it cruises along pleasantly enough.
The extras are scant on this new Blu-ray release, consisting of interviews with Bess Armstrong, associate producer Frederick Muller, and Vic Pratt, as well as trailers.
