Movie Review: Macao (1952)

It�s not a bad premise. In the titular Portuguese-Chinese colony, we see a man being pursued by crime lord Vincent Halloran (Brad Dexter) and several henchmen, including Itzumi (Korean-American actor Philip Ahn), who delivers the fatal blow, tossing a knife into the man�s back. Except the dude was a cop. Now New York is sending another cop to bring Halloran to justice. (Not Itzumi? It�s almost an insult.)

Cut to: a boat making its way from Hong Kong to Macao, where we run into three Americans:

Nick Cochran (Robert Mitchum), a down-on-his-luck adventurer
Julie Benton (Jane Russell), a down-on-her-luck chanteuse
Lawrence C. Trumble (William Bendix), a happy-go-lucky salesman of coconut oil, stockings and cigars

One of them, of course, is the cop.

That�s the fun part�trying to guess. The crime boss assumes it�s Nick, and who wouldn�t? Look at him. I assumed it was Trumble/Bendix, because he�s comic relief, but I was holding out hope the cop was Jane Russell. Wouldn�t that be amazing? The movie would be so ahead of its time.

Nope. Of its time.

The nonsense crescendo
Another example: They were still doing the post-WWII narration thing. That was disappointing�hearing Truman Bradley�s stentorian voice at the open over nondescript establishing shots:

This is Macao, a fabulous speck on the earth�s surface, just off the south coast of China, a 35-mile boat trip from Hong Kong. It�s an ancient Portuguese colony, quaint and bizarre. The crossroads of the Far East, its population is a mixture of all races and nationalities�mostly Chinese. Macao, often called the Monte Carlo of the Orient, has two faces: one, calm and open; the other, veiled and secret. Here, millions in gold and diamonds change hands, some across the gambling tables, some mysteriously in the night. Macao is a fugitive�s haven, for, at the three-mile limit, the authority of the International Police comes to an end.

A lot of unnecessary info amid that mess.

On the boat to Macao, the first person we see isn�t any of our three stars, but a guy dancing�not badly but somewhat comically�in his stateroom. He�s dancing before Julie, on whom the camera slowly pans up until we see her face, looking bemused and sardonic in that great Jane Russell way. She�s taking the boat to Macao on his dime and he wants a little something-something in return. A dance? Nah. Another drink? Nah. That�s when he gets all handsy. She takes off her shoe as a weapon but her aim is off: it goes through the ship portal and hits a passerby�Nick. That�s their meet-cute: attempted rape. The whole thing is treated lightly. When Nick saunters in, for example, Handsy is still getting handsy.�

Julie (fending the dude off): Do you mind giving me a hand!
Nick (staring at her appreciatively): Don�t think I wouldn�t enjoy that.

Yeah, Nick isn�t exactly a knight in shining armor. Even after he knocks out Handsy, he notes the whisky, the private stateroom, and suggests they stick around. �One side, Clyde,� she says, but allows herself to be kissed, long and slow, so she can pick Nick�s pocket.

It's out on deck that she meets the gladhanding Lawrence C. Trumble and his suitcase of wares, and all three meet up again before customs, where they�re questioned by Lt. Sebastian (Thomas Gomez). Nick is even more down-on-his-luck now: Julie took his dough and tossed his passport overboard. They still let him into the country. Kinda.

Sebastian actually works for Halloran, and since they suspect Nick is the cop, they try to kick him out of the country for vagrancy�which makes sense�but Julie slips him some of his dough back. So then they try to kick him out for not having a passport. Kidding. That�s never raised again. Instead, we get a crescendoing of nonsensical actions. Halloran lets Nick win at craps, ratcheting it up to $12k before taking it all away. Why? That just leads to a sampan boatride between Nick and Julie, where they canoodle and talk about a life together�though Nick says he wants to support her first. That leads to Julie assuming she�s getting the ol� brushoff again�as if 1950 Jane Russell was always getting the ol� brushoff.

More nonsense: Trumble asks Nick to show Halloran a diamond from a necklace that�s in a hotel safe in Hong Kong, in case he�d like to buy it. I�ll cut to the chase: Trumble is the cop and he�s trying to lure Halloran outside the three-mile limit so he can be arrested. Why doesn�t he do it himself? Why does he risk a civilian�s life? Exactly. And Nick�s life is risked. He�s kidnapped, basically, and when Julie tries to spring him, he pretends he�s shacking up with Halloran�s assistant Margie (an underused Gloria Grahame) because he�s got a gun at his back. More misunderstandings. When Nick does bust loose, he�s chased around the waterfront by Itzumi and another hood (Spencer Chan, I believe), but the one who gets the knife in the back is Trumble. Yeah, they accidentally kill the right guy. All of which is foreshadowed by an earlier line: �I'll go back one of these days or my name isn't Lawrence C. Trumble.� It isn�t and he doesn�t.

It's Julie who finally lures Halloran past the three-mile limit, but even here the International Police aren�t much help, flashing lights around and alerting Halloran, so Nick has to duke it out with him. But: bad guy caught, and good-bad guy winds up with good-bad girl. Just like we wanted.

Anyway, it�s not much.�

Sitting out the war
Most cinephiles know Howard Hughes discovered Jane Russell for �The Outlaw,� which had a much-delayed release, mostly because of Production Code and local censorship board difficulties. It was filmed during the winter of 1940-41, had reshoots that spring, but didn�t premiere until two years later, in February 1943, in San Francisco. It set house records but Hughes couldn�t find other theaters to run it, so it didn�t get a wider release until spring 1946. Basically, between when it was filmed and when people got to see it, all of World War II happened.

That�s less bug than feature for Hughes. He was a tinkerer. �Macao,� for example, was filmed in August-October 1950, then additional scenes were shot six months later, and then again six months after that. And even then it didn�t premiere for another eight months�in April 1952. �The Outlaw� sat out WWII, �Macao� the Korean War.

This is Josef von Sternberg�s first feature since �The Shanghai Gesture� in 1941, and one of his last features ever, and it wasn�t even all him; the retakes were done by Nicholas Ray and Robert Stevenson. Nothing really stands out except a shot where the principles� reflection on the water is filmed rather than them.

I liked seeing Philip Ahn again even though he isn�t given much to do. Ditto Thomas Gomez, who had that great scene in �Force of Evil� but usually plays gangster flunky. Mitchum is his usual seamless self. And then there�s Russell. She�s great when she�s saucy and sardonic�her pouty lip curl is like Elvis before Elvis�but she's even more beautiful when she softens a bit. She�s got beautiful eyes. They probably didn�t get noticed much.