They Met in Bombay is a 1941 American adventure drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre.

Gerald Meldrick (Clark Gable) and "Baroness" Anya von Duren (Rosalind Russell) are jewel thieves working separately in Bombay (now Mumbai) in British-ruled India.

Both are after a priceless diamond, the Star of Asia, owned by the aging Duchess of Beltravers (Jessie Ralph) and set for public display at a social function.

Police Inspector Cressney (Matthew Boulton), who had been in charge of the jewel's security, doggedly pursues them, vowing revenge for the way he was outwitted.

The two thieves stow away on a freighter bound for British-ruled Hong Kong, with the connivance of the dishonest captain, Chang (Peter Lorre).

They begin to distrust Chang, even though they are unaware that he has guessed their identities, contacted Inspector Cressney by radio and agreed to hand them over for a large reward.

The fugitive couple plan to sneak out of Hong Kong and the British Empire as soon as possible, eventually finding a way to sell the diamond.

Gerald, a Canadian who was once in the British military before he turned to a life of crime, obtains an army uniform and assumes the identity of a captain, as part of a scheme to loot money being held in a court dispute.

On the way there, he plans to duck out and head off in a car with Anya, so he informs his second-in-command that he will be leaving on a private mission and will put the idealistic young soldier in charge.

Some days later, having recovered, he waits for release from a British hospital in Hong Kong so he and Anya can finally disappear with their stolen diamond.

But Gerald, still known to local troops as an army officer, orders a column of passing soldiers to arrest Cressney and take him to jail, despite the inspector's furious protests that they are assisting a criminal.