Forbidden

"Forbidden" (1953) is full of suspenseful twists and turns. Tony Curtis is a small-time hood sent by the mob to Macau to neutralize Joanne, who has incriminating information. Joanne Dru, more familiar in westerns than in film-noir, reminds me of Grace Kelly, perhaps better looking and a better actress as well.

The plot gets really moving after Tony, a mobster, saves businessman Lyle Bettger from some powerful enemies - but then what? There are romantic complications and betrayals. If you prefer yesterday's intriguing plots and snappy dialog to today's overdone special effects, this one is for you.

Tony Curtis goes to Macao. He's after ex-lover Joanne Dru, now a gangster's widow with some information damaging to the current head of the Philadelphia rackets in a safety deposit box. Curtis is being paid by the racketeers to bring her back to the US. When Curtis saves Lyle Bettger from a gun man, Bettger hires him to help out at his gambling place... and then finds out that Miss Dru is the fiancee of Lyle Bettger.

It's a pretty good role for Curtis, but pretty standard stuff for the other two leads. On the other hand, there's a nice role for Victor Sen Yung as the gambling hall's piano player; he seems unusually well connected as the depths of Bettger's actual business is detailed. William Daniel's camerawork is largely standard until the big finish -- although that may be because he established the standard 'MGM gloss' look in the 1920s. Even so, he had a lot to contend with. Director Rudolph Maté had been nominated for five cinematography Oscars himself.

Tony Curtis stars in "Forbidden" from 1953, also starring Joanne Dru and Lyle Bettger, directed by Rudy Mate.

Tony is Eddie Darrow, who has been hired by a mobster to find Christine Lawrence (Dru). Christine is one of those people who knows a little too much about Barney's business, since she is the widow of one of his associates. Barney wants her found and brought home.

In Macao, Eddie soon meets Justin Keet (Lyle Bettger), a powerful casino owner engaged to Christine. Christine was once Eddie's girlfriend, so he finds the situation awkward to say the least. Eddie has to get her away from Justin and as far away from both Justin -- and Barney -- as possible.

Pretty good, with nice performances by Curtis, Dru, Bettger, and Victor Sen Yung. Amazing fight scene toward the end.

I used to work for Tony - love seeing his films.

Even leftovers can be tasty. Rudolph Maté's Forbidden is a stir-fry composed of elements from several movies of the previous decade; Casablanca and To Have and Have Not are in the mix, but the dominant flavors are Macao and Gilda (on which Maté served as director of photography). And while there's nothing fresh about it, it staves off hunger for a feast of film noir – at least for a little while.

Tony Curtis comes to Macao, port of intrigue, on a mission: To locate Joanne Dru, widow of a slain Philadelphia gangster, and bring her back to America (she knows too much). Interests in the City of Brotherly Love chose Curtis because he and Dru were once a hot item; nonetheless, they had him followed by another operative (Marvin Miller, probably best remembered as the unseen John Beresford Tipton's secretary on TV's The Millionaire).

On his way into the Lisbon Club, which Dru's known to frequent, Curtis fends off a murderous attack on its owner (Lyle Bettger), who professes indebtedness and takes him back home to meet his fiancée – Dru. Jagged flashes of lightning alert us that the romance has rekindled. The rest of the movie relates Curtis' attempts to wrest Dru away from Bettger (who plays the George Macready role from Gilda).

There's many an expected slip ‘twixt cup and lip, however. Every clandestine conversation draws unseen eavesdroppers, bringing to mind Charlie Chan's sagacious warning: `Two ears for every mouth.' Thoughts of Chan also appear in the person of Victor Sen Yung, his #2 son in many movies, who plays the Dooley Wilson/Hoagy Carmichael role (from Casablanca and To Have and Have Not, respectively) as a piano player at the Lisbon Club who knows his away around the unknown Macao and puts himself at Curtis' disposal. But just when the imperilled couple think they're home-free, Bettger resurfaces with his shark's-maw smile....

Forbidden looks good, as one would expect from Maté, but it keeps a good pace as well (Maté's D.O.A. had to keep up with Edmond O'Brien's speed-walking, but his The Dark Past and Union Station had their longueurs). It breaks no new ground in the noir cycle, but, as a second-feature, it's decent enough.

In 1946, one of the most stylish films of the age came out, "Gilda". It was a story about a rich but rich and ruthless man with a gorgeous girlfriend and the sexual tension generated between her and the tough guy's new, younger partner. And, in "Gilda" you wondered why the rich ruthless guy would bring the pair together. Well, here in "Forbidden" you have the same basic plot with a few differences...only a few. You have the rich, ruthless guy (here it's Lyle Bettger...who even looks and talks a bit like George Macready) once again gets his gorgeous girlfriend (Juanne Dru) together with a young guy (Tony Curtis) and you wonder why...why would he do this when he knows that the pair used to be a number?!

In the case of "Forbidden" there is another agenda. Eddie (Curtis) is working for the government and he's trying to get Christine (Dru) to come back to the States because she knows enough about Keit (Bettger) to put him in prison. And, all the while Keit keeps the pair together...like a cat toying with a couple mice!

It's all quite good and Dru was never prettier. The music is lovely and the film quite good. I just didn't score it higher because it was just a bit too similar to "Gilda".