Macao (1952)

A sultry night club singer, a man who has also traveled to many exotic ports and a salesman meet aboard ship on the 45-mile trip from Hong Kong to Macao. The singer is quickly hired by an ... See full summary »

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Bernard C. Schoenfeld (screenplay), Stanley Rubin (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Mitchum	...	Nick Cochran
Jane Russell	...	Julie Benson
William Bendix	...	Lawrence C. Trumble
Thomas Gomez	...	Police Lt. Sebastian
Gloria Grahame	...	Margie
Brad Dexter	...	Vincent Halloran
Edward Ashley	...	Martin Stewart
Philip Ahn	...	Itzumi
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Kwan Sum Tang
Don Zelaya	...	Gimpy - Piano Player

Storyline

A sultry night club singer, a man who has also traveled to many exotic ports and a salesman meet aboard ship on the 45-mile trip from Hong Kong to Macao. The singer is quickly hired by an American expatriate who runs the biggest casino in Macao and has a thriving business in converting hot jewels into cash. Her new boss thinks one of her traveling companions is a cop. One is -- but not the one the boss suspects.

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Plot Keywords:

macao | singer | hong kong | salesman | club | 

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Taglines:

DANGEROUS PARADISE! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Adventure

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese Japanese

Release Date:

30 April 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Den laglösa ön

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Lawrence Trumble is getting himself a shave, he speaks to the Chinese salon lady in one of the Chinese languages. She replies to him asking about baseball - either Yankees or Dodgers. Macao was released in 1952 and in the same year New York Yankees defeated Brooklyn Dodgers 4-3 to take the Major League Baseball title.

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Goofs

Whenever Julie Benson (Jane Russell) sings in the gambling den, The piano and bass guitar accompaniment don't match the sound of the full orchestra backing her up.

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Quotes

Nick Cochran: My fatal charm. Never misses - except with women.

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Connections

Featured in Private Screenings: Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Come Out Wherever You Are"
Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn
background music during conversation between Halloran and Julie

User Reviews

A Lighter Shade of Noir

Nick Cochran, supposedly an American adventurer and petty criminal, arrives, short of cash and on the run from the United States where he is wanted, in Macao (at this period still a Portuguese colony). Arriving on the same boat is an attractive young woman named Julie Benson. Julie is hired by Vincent Halloran, the local gambling boss, as a singer in his casino-cum-nightclub. Halloran is also wanted in America (for offences far more serious than Cochran's), but cannot be extradited as long as he remains in Macao. Although this is a short film, there is still time enough for the plot to become very complex. A number of the characters are not what they seem. Is Cochran, for example, what he purports to be, or is he really a cop trying to lure Halloran beyond Macao's three mile limit into international waters where he can be arrested? Who is Lawrence Trumble, the mysterious salesman who also appears to have a sideline in stolen jewellery?

This is the second film which Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell made together; the previous year they had starred in "His Kind of Woman". The two films have much in common beyond the two leading actors. Both have an exotic setting and both feature gambling and a ruthless gangster. The two leads play similar types in both films, Mitchum a seedy, down-on-his-luck character, likable despite his shady past and occasionally cynical exterior, and Russell a sultry glamour girl. There is, however, an important difference between the two films. "His Kind of Woman" can be seen as a comic send-up of the crime thriller genre, starting off in the dark, menacing film noir style and then metamorphosing into a comedy action-thriller. "Macao" is the genuine article rather than a parody, being for the most part played seriously rather than for laughs, although it the atmosphere is perhaps lighter than in some other films noirs. The difference lies less in the look of the film- "Macao" has some striking black-and-white photography- than in the moral atmosphere. Films such as the Humphrey Bogart classics "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Big Sleep" were notable not only for their dark, gloomy look but also for their tone of moral darkness. The private eye characters played by Bogart struggle to maintain their private integrity in a world of corruption and deceit. In "Macao" there is something closer to a traditional morality, with good triumphing over the evil of the ruthless villains. The result is perhaps something of a hybrid between authentic noir and a more traditional adventure thriller, still highly watchable even today. 6/10