'Macao' emerges on screen as a routine exercise in melodrama with a few flashy decorative touches from Von Sternberg's hand...
Certainly the ambiance created did not at all suggest that Macao is an exotic, sinful, self-governing overseas territory of Portugal, on the South China Coast...
The plot opens with the arrival of a ship in the port of Macao, and aboard are a former American lieutenant in the Signal Corps, who has just lost his passport (Mitchum); a tall tawny brunette (Russell); and a happy salesman (William Bendix)...
Just before the boat docks, Mitchum, with a confused romantic involvement, uses up his sexual magnetism, in asking Jane about her past... Jane, a woman who had seen a lot and was not about to be surprised by much, replies: 'I don't warm up to questions when I don't know the answers myself.'
Eventually, she reveals that she had formerly been a cigarette girl and photographer at a Miami Beach Club, then was a fortune-teller, and now is coasting along as a singer...
Once again Jane's character is introspective but honest and open: 'I was never considered a brain. I'm a creature of moods.' Her philosophy was expressed by these words: 'Everybody's lonely worried, and sorry. Everybody's looking for something. I don't know whether it's a person or a place. But I'll keep on looking.'
If Mitchum was impressed by her personality, his unemotional expression gives no indication of such an interest... His sleep-hooded eyes still challenge women to rouse him and make him their own...
Upon arriving Jane is rapidly hired by gangster Brad Dexter to sing at his Club Quick Reward, much to the discomfort of his girlfriend and gaming table croupier, Gloria Grahame...
Jane, physically glorious, is soon at work, singing to the gambling crowd a version of 'You Kill Me.' Meantime Dexter and his corrupt police intimate friend, lieutenant Thomas Gomez, have been alerted that one of the three new visitors is an undercover police officer sent to bring Dexter back to justice by cheating him into coming outside the three-mile limit of Macao (which has no extradition treaties).
The criminal couple assume that Mitchum is the law-enforcer when in reality it is another big fellow...
Jane's highlight covers her performance of the song 'One for the Road'... To impress everybody, Jane was wearing a terrific dress...
Certainly the ambiance created did not at all suggest that Macao is an exotic, sinful, self-governing overseas territory of Portugal, on the South China Coast...
The plot opens with the arrival of a ship in the port of Macao, and aboard are a former American lieutenant in the Signal Corps, who has just lost his passport (Mitchum); a tall tawny brunette (Russell); and a happy salesman (William Bendix)...
Just before the boat docks, Mitchum, with a confused romantic involvement, uses up his sexual magnetism, in asking Jane about her past... Jane, a woman who had seen a lot and was not about to be surprised by much, replies: 'I don't warm up to questions when I don't know the answers myself.'
Eventually, she reveals that she had formerly been a cigarette girl and photographer at a Miami Beach Club, then was a fortune-teller, and now is coasting along as a singer...
Once again Jane's character is introspective but honest and open: 'I was never considered a brain. I'm a creature of moods.' Her philosophy was expressed by these words: 'Everybody's lonely worried, and sorry. Everybody's looking for something. I don't know whether it's a person or a place. But I'll keep on looking.'
If Mitchum was impressed by her personality, his unemotional expression gives no indication of such an interest... His sleep-hooded eyes still challenge women to rouse him and make him their own...
Upon arriving Jane is rapidly hired by gangster Brad Dexter to sing at his Club Quick Reward, much to the discomfort of his girlfriend and gaming table croupier, Gloria Grahame...
Jane, physically glorious, is soon at work, singing to the gambling crowd a version of 'You Kill Me.' Meantime Dexter and his corrupt police intimate friend, lieutenant Thomas Gomez, have been alerted that one of the three new visitors is an undercover police officer sent to bring Dexter back to justice by cheating him into coming outside the three-mile limit of Macao (which has no extradition treaties).
The criminal couple assume that Mitchum is the law-enforcer when in reality it is another big fellow...
Jane's highlight covers her performance of the song 'One for the Road'... To impress everybody, Jane was wearing a terrific dress...