MALAYA: one swansong and one very odd couple

I had one reason only to watch MALAYA - Sydney Greenstreet. This 1949 MGM War World Two drama (known as "East of the Rising Sun" in the UK) features the final screen appearance of my all-time favourite character actor, and I wanted to see how he signs off.
I have no idea whether he knew at the time that this would be his last movie, but he goes out in a reasonable amount of style. Playing a character called "The Dutchman" even though there's nothing remotely Dutch about him, he effortlessly dominates every scene he's in, which is no small accomplishment given that he sharing the screen with co-stars of the calibre of Spencer Tracy and James Stewart. 
Despite this it's certainly not an outstanding performance. The Dutchman is little more than a watery retread of his Senor Ferrari in "Casablanca" and Greenstreet seems rather listless. It was illness which prompted his retirement and it's possible that he was unwell at the time of shooting, although it's hard to be sure since the tropical setting requires that he look sweaty all the time.  
Aside from Greenstreet's swansong, the only other element of any interest in MALAYA is the unusual pairing of Tracy and Stewart. The two stars get equal billing in the opening titles and it's Stewart who does the early running as a journalist with a plan to steal a large amount of desperately needed rubber from under the noses of the Japanese forces occupying Malaya.
To close the deal Stewart needs the help of a con called Carnaghan, played by Tracy. 
This is where the only other item of interest comes in, because the moment he first appears on screen he grabs the film off Stewart and never hands it back. Stewart wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders to begin with but when Tracy appears he simply gives up completely, relegating himself to a colourless supporting role which could have been played by any number of lesser lights in MGM's sizeable stable of star names.
What makes this situation even more bizarre is that the character of Carnaghan is not even a comfortable fit for Tracy. Carnaghan's a supremely confident, two-fisted ladies man with no conception of danger. He treats the Japanese military like a bunch of third rate punks who just need to have their collective ass whupped a couple of times to understand who's boss. While everyone around him's focusing on the deadly serious subject of trying to win World War Two, Tracy's playing the whole thing for laughs.
To add insult to Stewart's injury it's also Tracy who gets to get the girl, even though he looks more like Valentina Cortese's grandfather than her lover. 
MALAYA really is a bad deal all round for Stewart.