Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249190 in DVD
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Running time: 81 minutes

Customer Reviews

A MITCHUM AND RUSSELL BLOCKBUSTER!
This film is a potpourri of oriental and expatriate American film noir. It's two major stars (Jane Russell and Robert Mitchum) fit like gloves into their roles. Their attraction to each other melts through the screen. There are also outstanding character role performances (and these are the film's other great strengths) by Brad Dexter (nightclub owner, gem smuggler, etc.) Thomas Gomez, Gloria Grahame, and a special mention of William Bendix, who really added a tight performance to the film.

The plot is one of mistaken identities, a worn-out songstress looking for a place to land and rest, a man who can't go home, and a NYC policeman on a job. The center scene of the film is a Macao nightclub run by a shady and dangerous character. Mitchum and Russell captivate this plot with their on-screen presences.

Josef von Sternberg directed this film, but his stern movie set policies offended all, and especially Mitchum who did something about it (in the video, Jane Russell, still dazzling in old-age with shining silver hair) tells us this amusing anecdote. Nicholas Ray finished up the directorial tasks when von Sternberg was booted out, and their two talents form an interesting combination.

Mitchem and Russell had a preceding hit film called "His Kind of Woman." They probably would have been teamed again after "Macao," but Howard Hughes sold the RKO studio.

All in all, Macao belongs in anyone's collection of classic film noir.

good Mitchum-Russell sparks; entertaining
I haven't yet seen the dvd version, but am glad it's being released. Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell made two film noir-ish films together -- "Macao" and "His Kind of Woman." They're both good, but I prefer this one. Made in 1952, Mitchum and Russell were at the height of their bigger-than-life attractiveness; and as subsequent interviews with them have shown (I saw one a few years ago on TCM), they actually liked each other and have an easy-going, unpretentious ease to their playing which makes it easy to root for their romance in this film. Mitchum is rightly admired for his acting, but Russell is underrated -- she has an "I know I'm attractive, but it's no big deal" attitude that is supremely likable. And in a film like "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," which I've watched many times, Marilyn Monroe clearly is the charismatic star, but Russell gives superb support, and her "no nonsense" line readings are really expert (and help set Monroe up). The plot of "Macao" is rather dense and hard to follow, but the decor and ambience carry the day -- the look undoubtedly has to do with legendary director Josef von Sternberg (who the stars and crew hated); but some of the scenes, according to that TCM interview, were actually written and/or improvised by the two stars. Russell's also a good, straight-forward singer; and she does an amusing job with Jule Styne's "You Kill Me" (during which the movie nightclub audience pays her no attention) and a nice version of the superb Harold Arlen classic, "One for My Baby." Throw in sultry Gloria Grahame as a secondary shady lady, and it's a pretty entertaining film.

Made For Each Other
MACAO is a fairly entertaining story of crime and adventure in the Portuguese colony near Hong Kong after World War II. Jane Russell is a singer working for a local gambling boss (Brad Dexter). Robert Mitchum is an American who is on the run and William Bendix is pretending to be a salesman but he really has another more mysterious identity. The best thing about MACAO is the pairing of Russell and Mitchum who seem to be made for each other.

Josef von Sternberg also directed THE BLUE ANGEL.