John Brahm (1893–1982)

An exotic setting, glamorous sets, a young and stunningly beautiful Ava Gardner, Maury Gertsma’s great cinematography, a lovely score from Daniele Amfitheatrof and an exciting ending all combine to overcome the somewhat leisurely-paced first hour of this film and give it that something extra. A glossy crime and romance film with a romantic feel, Singapore entertains in a “Casablanca Light” kind of way. There are, in fact, many similarities to that film.

Fred MacMurray portrays Matt Gordon, returning to the Hotel Singapore now that the war is over hoping to retrieve a fortune in pearls he hid in his room. There are memories everywhere for Gordon of his romance with Linda Grahame (Ava Gardner). A small cafe table and two Gin Slings only remind him of the great love he lost when the Japanese bombed Singapore.

Deputy Hewitt (Richard Hayden) has a long memory as well, and puts Gordon on notice that he knows about the pearls, and will be keeping a close eye on Gordon. They have the type of cordial cop-crook rapport that mirrors the Rains-Bogart one in Casablanca.

Everything changes for Gordon, however, when he sees a very beautiful ghost. There are only two problems: she’s married to a rich plantation owner who loves her, and she has amnesia, with no memory of anything before the air raid. Hewitt’s cops helps here in filling in the blanks, even though she can remember none of it.

The relationship of Linda and her wealthy husband Michael (Roland Culver) mirrors the Bergman-Lukas one in Casablanca. Great character actor Thomas Gomez, so good in so many films, is the smarmy Sydney Greenstreet-type who decides Linda might have a clue about those pearls. This is the point where the film takes of, and the pace quickens.

Bullet wounds, changes of heart, and the inevitable knock on the head which brings all the memories back may be tropes after so many years, but they’re enjoyable ones with such an attractive cast and a setting to match. Spring Byington and Porter Hall add some humor as vacationers, Mr. and Mrs. Bellows. What is probably a three-star film for the first hour gets a big boost from that point forward if you enjoy those great Hollywood endings of the 1940s. A fortune in pearls, police, a plane and a pretty girl all make this one easy to take. As long as you don’t expect Casablanca, despite the similarities, quite enjoyable.… (mehr)

This flashback-laden melodrama has a fine cast and enough atmospheric noir touches to overcome a few unconvincing actions by the principals involved, and keep classic film fans glued to the screen, waiting to see how it all finally plays out. The uneven moments of Sheridan Gibney’s screenplay are smoothed over by Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum and Laraine Day, as a girl as messed up as she is pretty. Roy Webb gave another RKO mid-budget effort a solid score that fit every scene while director John Braham makes a film which could in other hands have been so hard to follow the audience lost interest, into an entertaining entry in the noir cycle.

The film begins as Nancy (Laraine Day) is about to walk down the aisle. But psychiatrist Brian Aherne wants to keep another man from falling for the sweet demeanor of a woman he claims to know all too well. As he begins telling his tale to the groom, the viewer gets layer after layer of flashbacks, Aherne relating not only how he was in love with her, but how he too did not believe Norman (Robert Mitchum) when the artist came to him in much the same way. It is the flashback of Mitchum’s twisted tale of woe within Aherne’s that rivets the viewer, making this film view better than the script reads on paper.

We see Nancy as charming, manipulative and, ultimately, so traumatized by an unfair accusation regarding a locket as a child that her entire life was changed in that moment. Yet the man who loves her can no more reconcile the sweet girl walking down the aisle with the mentally twisted picture of Nancy painted so vividly by Aherne, than Aherne could the even darker depiction Mitchum’s Norman gave him so long ago. Theft, murder and manipulation all play a part in this story within a story within a story.

While it doesn’t have enough bite to leave marks like many of the great noirs, it has some atmospheric scenes and nice performances from Day, Mitchum and Aherne. It is a film entertaining enough to warrant a viewing by any fan of classic film, this particular genre, or any of the stars. Not one of the great noirs, but tremendously entertaining on another level, and impossible to go wrong with this cast.… (mehr)

British Intellengence dispatches Commando Geoffrey Carter on a one-man raid to destroy a munitions plant that manufactures bombs in Nazi-occupied France. He enlists the aid of a patriotic farmer, M. Bonnard, that lives near the plant, over the objections of his daughter Odette Bonnard, who believes that the British were responsible for the fall of France. Her attitude softens toward Carter, who is living with the family as posing as a son, but Odette cannot bring herself to aid in Carter’s plan because of her fear of reprisals against her family. She turns informer and the Nazis capture Carter. (fonte: imdb)… (mehr)