Macao (1952)

Macao is a film that follows the pattern established by Casablanca where an American expatriate with a shady past is in an exotic foreign locale pursing extralegal activities.

Rather than Humphrey Bogart, who made a career out of such movies, we have the next generation antihero Robert Mitchum who picked up where Bogie left off. One of the key criteria for these films may well be that the protagonist has to photograph well in the white tropical suits that they always seem to be wearing, day or evening.

This type of film is classified today as film noir; a term coined by the French post-WWII that became current among film students around the 1970s or 80s or so. The actors at the time merely thought they were making cheap melodramas, as Mitchum and co-star Jane Russell mention during their interview included among the bonus materials. Anyway, film noir is having a resurgence in popularity now that they are becoming increasingly available on DVD, and I for one am very thankful they are. Macao is a part of the Robert Mitchum Signature Collection, released by Warner Bros as a six-disk set, or available separately.

The movie starts out with Mitchum and Russell entering the exotic port of Macao off a steamer from Hong Kong. Russell had already pick pocketed Mitchum's ID so he had to interview with the corrupt police lieutenant (Thomas Gomez) who lets him through customs because they have mistaken him for an undercover police detective hunting for the one that disappeared hunting the crime lord (Brad Dexter) that runs the local casino. The lieutenant hurries to report to Dexter and the whole story is hung upon that mistaken identity. Of course it is only a matter of time until they try to bump the supposed detective off.

The police lieutenant also procures for the villain (Brad Dexter) and he recommends Russell use her singing skills at the casino, giving her something to do beside look g - o - o - d. Russell, a stunning figure of a woman, sings a couple of blues tunes, even "One More for the Road" which was also covered by bad girl Ida Lupino in Road House.

Macao was produced by RKO, which was owned by billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes at the time. Hughes had discovered the statuesque Russell and had her and Robert Mitchum under contract to RKO. He had all but washed up director Josef Von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, Morocco) work with Russell to try to get her mystique quotient up. I don't really think of her as a villainess, nor does she really play one here.

The high-handed Von Sternberg proved too tyrannical for the RKO staff, including stars Russell and Mitchum, who really got along well with the more informal atmosphere at RKO, so he was replaced by Nicholas Ray at some point near the end of filming.

The movie has a fairly engaging story, but what makes it worth seeing are the supporting players like William Bendix, Brad Dexter, Gloria Grahame, and Vladimir Sokoloff who all had many roles as secondary characters. Jane Russell does a good job with the thin part written for her and shows her spunk and verve. Mitchum, of course, does his patented walk through like he did countless times during those years.

The Warner Bros DVD comes in an ultra thin case, with the 81 minute B&W movie in 1.33:1 theatrical format. There is a full length commentary led by Eddie Muller with Screenwriter Stanley Rubin and Actress Jane Russell chiming in. There is a TMC special production of "Private Screening" featuring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, great pals in real life, giving highlights of their careers. Lots of name dropping, but the two seem genuinely nice.

Other exotic films like Macao that you may want to see:

Gilda
Notorious
Istanbul

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV