IMDb > Macao (1952)

Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   829 votes
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Down 16% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Writers:
Bernard C. Schoenfeld (screenplay) and
Stanley Rubin (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Macao on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 April 1952 (USA) more
Tagline:
A sultry chanteuse, a hunk on the lam and a fortune in stolen gems. more
Plot:
A sultry night club singer, a man who has also traveled to many exotic ports and a salesman meet aboard... more | add synopsis
User Comments:
A Lighter Shade of Noir more (27 total)
US TV Schedule:

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Additional Details

Runtime:
81 min
Country:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
USA:Approved (certificate #14783) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:T | Sweden:15
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Producer Howard Hughes fired director Josef von Sternberg about a third of the way through and shot the rest with Nicholas Ray. more
Quotes:
Julie Benson: Well you annoyed me a little when you belted me with that blonde! more
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
Ocean Breeze more

FAQ

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12 out of 20 people found the following comment useful.
A Lighter Shade of Noir, 1 March 2005
6/10
Author: James Hitchcock from Tunbridge Wells, England

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

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