Macao (1952)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Josef von Sternberg
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Writers:

Bernard C. Schoenfeld (screenplay) and
Stanley Rubin (screenplay) ...
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Release Date:

30 April 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Adventure

Tagline:

A sultry chanteuse, a hunk on the lam and a fortune in stolen gems.

Plot:

A sultry night club singer, a man who has also traveled to many exotic ports and a salesman meet aboard...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Club | Salesman | Place Name In Title | Adventurer

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Nick Cochran
Jane Russell	...	Julie Benson
William Bendix	...	Lawrence C. Trumble
Thomas Gomez	...	Lt. Sebastian
Gloria Grahame	...	Margie
Brad Dexter	...	Vincent Halloran
Edward Ashley	...	Martin Stewart
Philip Ahn	...	Itzumi
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Kwan Sum Tang
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Everett Glass	...	Garcia (unconfirmed)
Abdullah Abbas	...	Arabian (uncredited)
Rico Alaniz	...	Bus driver (uncredited)
Trevor Bardette	...	Alvaris (uncredited)
Genevieve Bell	...	Woman passenger (uncredited)
Truman Bradley	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
George Chan	...	Chinese photographer (uncredited)
W.T. Chang	...	Old fisherman (uncredited)
Spencer Chan	...	Hood (uncredited)
John Daheim	...	Det. Lt. Daniel Lombardy (uncredited)
Art Dupuis	...	Portuguese pilot (uncredited)
Lee Tung Foo	...	Merchant (uncredited)
Nacho Galindo	...	Bus driver (uncredited)
H.W. Gim	...	Sampan pilot (uncredited)
Phil Harron	...	Sikh (uncredited)
Sheldon Jett	...	Dutch tourist (uncredited)
Harold J. Kennedy	...	Drunken lecherous salesman (uncredited)
Marc Krah	...	Desk clerk (uncredited)
Tommy H. Lee	...	Chinese victim (uncredited)
James B. Leong	...	Hood (uncredited)
Weaver Levy	...	Chang (uncredited)
Alex Montoya	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Walter Ng	...	Fisherman (uncredited)
Manuel París	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Ship's captain (uncredited)
Alfredo Santos	...	Hood (uncredited)
May Takasugi	...	The barber (uncredited)
Philip Van Zandt	...	Customs official (uncredited)
Michael Visaroff	...	Russian doorman (uncredited)
Iris Wong	...	Croupier (uncredited)
William Yip	...	Rickshaw driver (uncredited)
Maria Sen Young	...	Croupier (uncredited)
Don Zelaya	...	Gimpy (piano player) (uncredited)

Directed by
Josef von Sternberg
Mel Ferrer		(uncredited)
Nicholas Ray		(uncredited)
Robert Stevenson		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Bernard C. Schoenfeld		(screenplay) and
Stanley Rubin		(screenplay)
Robert Creighton Williams		(story) (as Bob Williams)
George Bricker		uncredited
Edward Chodorov		uncredited
Norman Katkov		uncredited
Frank L. Moss		uncredited
Walter Newman		dialogue (uncredited)

Produced by
Samuel Bischoff	....	executive producer
Alex Gottlieb	....	producer
Howard Hughes	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Anthony Collins

Cinematography by
Harry J. Wild		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Samuel E. Beetley
Robert Golden

Art Direction by
Ralph Berger
Albert S. D'Agostino

Set Decoration by
Harley Miller
Darrell Silvera

Costume Design by
Michael Woulfe		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Mel Berns	....	makeup artist
Larry Germain	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Jerry Wald	....	production supervisor: additional photography (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James E. Casey	....	assistant director: additional photography (uncredited)
Richard Davol	....	second unit director (uncredited)
William Dorfman	....	assistant director: additional photography (uncredited)
Lowell J. Farrell	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Keye Luke	....	painter: murals (uncredited)
Edward Vorkapich	....	sketch artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Clem Portman	....	sound
Earl A. Wolcott	....	sound (as Earl Wolcott)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
Hugh Martin	....	vocal arranger

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Fox Hills Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Nostalgia Merchant, The (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1952) (France) (theatrical) (as R.K.O. Radio Films)
• Castle Video (????) (Finland) (video)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2004) (Finland) (TV)
• Éditions Montparnasse (2003) (France) (DVD)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #14783) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:T | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Robert Mitchum actually wrote several scenes for this movie when Nicholas Ray came on board to do uncredited directing so that the script would make more sense.

Quotes:

Nick Cochran: Why don't you take that chip off your shoulder?
Julie Benson: Every time I do, somebody hits me over the head with it.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

One for My Baby

Jane Russell gets rare good role in utterly shallow but playful and stylish adventure

Josef von Sternberg began Macao (and copped the directorial credit), but Nicholas Ray finished it. Nonetheless, it abounds with Sternberg's branded flounces and fetishes. As in Shanghai Express and The Shanghai Gesture, he trowels on the Orientalism in thick impasto (Sternberg could have made the best Charlie Chan movie of them all).

A nighttime chase through the Macao docks opens the movie (to be rhymed near its conclusion): A white-suited European is pursued by knife-throwing Chinese thugs; he falls in the water when one blade finds its mark. A badge filched from him pocket shows him to be a police detective.

Into this world of Asian intrigue sails a boat from Hong Kong, just 35 miles up the coast. On it is the motley crew of salesman William Bendix, drifter Robert Mitchum and mysterious woman Jane Russell, who lifts Mitchum's wallet. Sans passport, Mitchum comes to the attention of the Macao police chief (Thomas Gomez), who reports the suspicious stranger to gambling kingpin Brad Dexter. Dexter assumes Mitchum is a cop he knows to be on his way to extradite him back to Hong Kong....

It's a playfully plotted adventure story. Russell gets a gig singing at Dexter's club in eye-popping gowns which actually aren't any more provocative than the black-and-white daytime outfits she traipses around in, wielding a parasol. She fares better than Gloria Grahame, as Dexter's moll, looking washed out and largely wasted (though she puts her distinctive spin on a couple of lines). Mitchum by this time has done this role – the lippy but laconic reluctant hero – so often he could do it in his sleep, which, given his hooded eyes, may be the truth of the matter.

Macao is an utterly shallow film done with energy and style. The plotting remains perfunctory, but the play of shadows throughout remains transfixing – especially in the set-piece near the end, again on the dark waterfront, with ropes and nets casting their creepy spell. And the movie provides Russell with one of her few opportunities to flaunt her real, if narrow, talents: in addition to the statuesque figure that caught Howard Hughes' eye, she had spunk and sass. That's what Sternberg saw, and he fell for it. We do, too.