Macao **** (1952, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix) – Classic Movie Review 1679

‘Everybody’s lonely, worried, and sorry. Everybody’s looking for something.’ – Jane Russell. Director Josef Von Sternberg ties his steamy, sultry 1952 film noir up in a tidy knot. This underrated, very likeable thriller boasts two scintillating performances by a star pair with sizzling sexual chemistry – Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell – and a strikingly stylish noir look in Harry J Wild’s black-and-white cinematography and Albert S D’Agostino’s set designs.

Looking at her most alluring, Russell plays cynical, sultry night club singer Julie Benson, who spars with and then falls for hunky American ex-GI Nick Cochran (Mitchum), a cynical but honest adventurer. Mitchum and Russell meet aboard a ship from Hong Kong heading to Macao – ‘a fabulous speck on the Earth’s surface’ – where most of the action takes place. Arriving at the port of Macao on the same ship is the sweatily sinister Lawrence Trumble (William Bendix), a travelling salesman who deals in both silk stockings and contraband.

Other major cast assets are:

(1) Brad Dexter as Macao casino owner and underworld crime boss Vincent Halloran, who is wanted back in America;

(2) Thomas Gomez as the corrupt police lieutenant Sebastian who tips off Halloran that an undercover New York City cop is out to lure him into international waters so he can be arrested;

(3) Gloria Grahame as Halloran’s jealous girlfriend Margie; and

(4) William Bendix, who turns out to be the undercover police detective on the trail of Halloran.

Sebastian notifies Halloran about the new arrivals, warning him that one of them is a cop. With only three strangers to choose from, Halloran assumes it’s Nick and tries to bribe him to leave Macao. Nick just wants to know Julie better so Halloran hires Julie as a singer, seeking to uncover her knowledge about Nick. Julie chucks insults at Nick before she melts to him and helps him to bring Halloran to justice.

With Mitchum and Russell sizzling in their archetypal film noir characters, Bendix, Grahame, Gomez and Dexter all score strongly, while Edward Ashley, Philip Ahn, Vladimir Sokoloff, Emory Parnell and Philip Van Zandt are also in the cast. It’s a standard film noir plot, but that’s not the point, its all in how it’s done, and here it’s handled by Von Sternberg with enormous style, tension and atmosphere. And you can’t take you eyes off Mitchum and Russell, who are mesmerising.

Towards the end of filming, the autocratic Von Sternberg upset the stars so much that he was fired by producer Howard Hughes and replaced by Nicholas Ray, who finished the movie but didn’t shoot enough footage to receive a screen credit.

As the topping on the tasty sundae, Russell memorably sings one of the all-time great songs – One for My Baby by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music) – as well as the rather appropriate You Kill Me by Leo Robin (lyrics) and Jule Styne (music).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1679

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