Singapore

This is a fairly decent yarn about a fortune hunting American in the days when Americans weren't considered ugly.

It has the elements of film noir and mystery, though not really a lot of mystery. It is the story of a man returning to Singapore from America to find illegal valuables he hid.

Many of the characters are a bit cliché, but it is an entertaining film, so it rates fairly high. The main nitpick that brings it down to a 6 is the ending, which is dragged out for a Hollywood cliché. The movie should have ended about nine minutes before it did. The way it ended was not only unrealistic and Hollywood, but just completely anticlimactic.

Fred's back from the service looking to retrieve the pearls he was smuggling before Singapore was invaded and is haunted by the memory of what he thinks is his lost love Ava. One day she reappears but she doesn't remember him. What's the answer to the mystery?

Studio bound adventure is entertaining enough but serves more as a study in star building.

This was Ava Gardner's last film before she moved into the top tier of MGM stars with her next film, One Touch of Venus. Having scored heavily in two supporting roles for her home studio, The Killers & The Hucksters, they loaned her to Universal for the female lead in this alongside the established Fred MacMurray to test her lead appeal with minimal risk. She seems a bit cautious at times but radiates star quality every second she's on screen.

Considering the magnitude of the stars in the leads this is curiously obscure but if you enjoyed Gilda or similar fare it's worth the time.

Fred Macmurray played one unforgettable role as Walter Neff in "Double Indemnity" (1944) and I cannot quite separate him from this role when I see FM perform in other films like "Singapore" where he plays Matt Gordon a pearl smuggler.I fervently believe the best acted performances come from the actor having an affinity or some actual practical experience of the role in real life.I am not saying FM was into insurance fraud but he looked more comfortable in an American setting.The plot has been adequately commented on by other reviewers above, most notably by Terrell-4 from San Antonio Texas, whose review I commend.

There were a few things I found irritating and getting a second rate TV director will not produce a first class film.First, after Ava Gardner had being roughed up by one of the "baddies" to get her to talk, there was not a blemish, bruise or mark on her Venus like face.When FM wants to pay for his bar bills he decides how much he will pay leaving some notes on the table, without waiting to receive a bill - I noticed he did this on at least two occasions.Yet again actors (FM) appear to be able to walk through other guests hotel bedroom doors or magically have the right key in their pockets, this is a general continuity criticism of films of this era; so much for hotel security.What is an American gangster doing in Singapore? One of the "heavies" sounded like he came from 1920s Chicage!

On the plus side I liked Roland Culver's performance as plantation manager van Leiden who played an honest man who is prepared to give up his Venus like wife because he knows she really loves Walter Neff (sorry FM).Richard Haydn for once plays it straight as the police commissioner in colonial Singapore on the trail of local malefactors and I hardly recognised him compared to say his performance as Mr Wilson in "Cluny Brown" (1946).

Taken all together I found it enjoyable but uneven and therefore rated it 6/10.

SINGAPORE (1947) Fred MacMurray, Ava Gardner. ** Bland mix of film noir, and imitation CASABLANCA. Imagine all the CASABLANCA characters portrayed by competent but unmemorable actors. Place them, again, in an exotic setting, in a story about passionate lovers separated by war and later reunited. Once more, the love of the hero's life is married to another man, but this time the plot includes amnesia and pearl smuggling. Gardner is radiant and sexy, but her acting inexperience shows. MacMurray is wooden. First rate cinematography, however.

Singapore is a mix of crime and romance, Matt Gordon has just returned to Singapore from the war, where he reminisces about his lost love who he thought had died during a Japanese bombing.

As a pearl smuggler, he has a second reason to return, hidden pearls that he has stashed in a hotel room and that he hopes to get his hands on again.

When he discovers that his lost love who is believed to be dead, is still alive but has amnesia,and is now married to someone else and no longer knows anything about her past with him, things become a lot more complicated for him.

Fred Macmurray once again in a serious role, and he does it properly, Ava Gardner is again a sight to see, their romance is not very well developed, but who cares.

Great mix between a touch of crime and romance.