Robert Mitchum is Nick Cochran, a down on his luck ex-soldier who happens to meet a salesman named Lawrence C. Trumble (William Bendix) and a sultry singer named Julie Benson (Jane Russell) on a 45 minute boat trip from Hong Kong to Macao.
Once there Julie is hired almost immediately by a gangster named Vincent Halloran (Brad Dexter) to sing in his club. Halloran is also involved in dealing with stolen jewels and has the local law in his pocket. Thomas Gomez is perfect as the sometimes bumbling, sometimes menacing Lt. Sebastian.
Both Halloran and Sebastian discover that the port of Macao has been under investigation for a long time and that they may be being watched by an undercover cop. They suspect Cochran and do their best to eliminate him. It turns out that he is not the man they seek. That turns out to be Trumble, who is actually a New York undercover cop.
Halloran's Chinese killers dispose of Trumble and it's up to Cochran to bring in Halloran. He is helped by Julie and Margie (Gloria Grahame) who happens to like Halloran and wants Julie out of the way.
This is classic RKO noir and Josef von Sternberg got the only director credit, but one can tell it was mostly handled by Nicholas Ray. As usual Mitchum and Russell make a great combination with Jane looking hotter than ever.
If you like these types of films as much as I do, I recommend you see this one. The disc also includes and interview with both Mitchum and Russell conducted by Robert Osborn. All three are gone now, but what memories it brings back.
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