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Good start, but then it gets ruined

Good movie but grossly overrated

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Not to be confused with the 1984 film with the same title, which deals with a forbidden interethnic love in Nazi Berlin. This one also emphasizes a forbidden love, but between small time hood Eddie(Tony Curtis)and a gangster's moll: Christine(Joanne Dru). As someone mentioned, Joanne reminds me, in looks and personality, of Grace Kelly, although Joanne mostly played cowboy's sweethearts, livening up a few westerns. As several others have noted, there are some commonalities between this film and certain other well known films, including "Gilda", "Casablanca" and "To Have, and Have Not". But, it doesn't closely resemble the particulars of any of these films, only their general form.One commonality with "Casablanca" is the inclusion of a song that has special meaning to both the man and woman, played on a piano. In this film, it's the beautiful "You Belong to Me", which had been a top hit on the pop charts the previous year. It's played during the opening credits, and occasionally , in bits, thereafter. Mamie Van Doren is pictured singing it in a nightclub, though dubbed. One difference with "Casablanca" is that the pianist, Allan(Victor Sen Yung), also unknowingly is an undercover agent, spying on the illegal activities of the club owner, Justin, and giving Tony and Joanne occasional good advice and documents.The climax ending has gangster Justin blown up, along with the rest of the ship, just shortly after Tony and Joanne departed this ship , as potential stowaways. This explosion is blamed on electrostatically charged grain dust, which accompanied the many sacks of grain in the hold, and is set off by the discharge of a gun in the hold, meant to signal for help. Although atmospheres high in certain combustible dusts have occasionally exploded in land-based facilities, I was unable to locate any references to such explosions in ships, with the possible exception of coal dust in the USS Maine. On the other hand, there have been a few dramatic instances of devastating ship explosions due to the denotation of chemicals with known explosive properties. The devastating explosion of a ship at the dock of Texas City, due to a fire igniting bags of explosive ammonium nitrate, is a prime example. But, even then, I much doubt that a single bullet could cause such an explosion. In the case of Texas City, the explosion also caused a substantial tidal wave, that should have inundated the wharf, where Tony and Joanne were hiding.The plot is complex enough to hold one's interest. Tony and Joanne have 2 distinct gangster organizations to deal with, one(Justin) in Macao, and the other(Burney Pendleton) in Philadelphia, from where both originated just before their trip to the Far East. Since Joanne had just married Justin, (presumably at gun point), the screenplay fails to follow up on her inheritance of his assets and criminal activities. However, she does submit to the law papers she wrote up about how Pendleton tried to kill her, as well as her then husband.I will leave further details for you to find out by seeing the movie. See it on YouTube.

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".

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.

I saw this film when it first came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. The cast were great, right down to the beautiful white Jaguar XK120. Surely it should be possible to see most of the old films rather than endless repeats of the limited few, many of which are hardly deserving of the privilege. One way or another I have managed to see many old favourites but this one still eludes me. Macao, made the year before is available on video - so I am keeping my fingers crossed.