Orientation

So, Mr. Mitchum, we meet again, this time in Macao.The last time we saw you with Jane Russell, it was in Mexico, was it not? And it was in Mexico that you were running with William Bendix, as well? We're a long way from Mexico now.

Josef von Sternberg is directing, in the style of The Shanghai Gesture or The Shanghai Express. And a very stylish style that is, all shady alleys, casinos, misty waterfronts and mazes of nets and wharfs. Mitchum, Russell and Bendix meet on the ferry to Macao, 2 drifters and a nylon salesman. They immediately run into the gambling king of Macao, an American gangster who will be arrested by the international police if he is ever found outside Macao territorial waters. He lusts after Russell and suspects that Mitchum is undercover police.

The plot actually makes a little sense, reportedly because Nicholas Ray took over from von Sternberg, who was a bit erratic. Ray could do von Sternberg's shadows and fog wonderfully, and he brings with him his wife, Gloria Grahame.

Now, Jane Russell does a creditable job here. I don't think much of her acting, but have no complaints here. She even does a decent job on a few songs, including "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)". However, Grahame blows her off the screen. She plays the bad guy's floozy, and does it very well. Reportedly, she hated the movie, and offered to give Ray a no-alimony divorce if he would get her out of doing it. Glad he didn't.

In conclusion, not as decadent and over-the-top as Gesture, and we haven't seen Shanghai Express yet.