Mobster Alan Dexter has a perverse sense of humor in Forbidden. He's the local syndicate kingpin in Philadelphia and he sends out the former boyfriend of a rival's widow searching for her halfway around the world. Tony Curtis's travels take him to Macao where he finds his lost love Joanne Dru about to married to Lyle Bettger a local casino owner with power. To make sure Curtis is keeping his mind on business, Dexter sends Marvin Miller after Tony.
That sense of humor is responsible for eventually rekindling some lost flames of love. Now Tony doesn't want Dru to marry Bettger nor does he want to complete his mission of bringing her back to Dexter. The rest of the film is taken up as to whether and how Tony and Joanne can escape everybody's clutches.
Forbidden is a stylish bit of noir where no one got any closer to Macao than Universal's back lot. Curtis shows a bit of the street character he would hone to perfection in Sweet Smell Of Success. Dru as always is a fetching temptress in frontier gingham or some fashionable evening dress. Lyle Bettger is always a good villain although I will say he's quite a bit more subdued than he is in such classics as The Greatest Show On Earth and Union Station.
It all ends quite spectacularly in a shipboard fire in the hold. That is worth seeing Forbidden for as well as our two attractive stars.
That sense of humor is responsible for eventually rekindling some lost flames of love. Now Tony doesn't want Dru to marry Bettger nor does he want to complete his mission of bringing her back to Dexter. The rest of the film is taken up as to whether and how Tony and Joanne can escape everybody's clutches.
Forbidden is a stylish bit of noir where no one got any closer to Macao than Universal's back lot. Curtis shows a bit of the street character he would hone to perfection in Sweet Smell Of Success. Dru as always is a fetching temptress in frontier gingham or some fashionable evening dress. Lyle Bettger is always a good villain although I will say he's quite a bit more subdued than he is in such classics as The Greatest Show On Earth and Union Station.
It all ends quite spectacularly in a shipboard fire in the hold. That is worth seeing Forbidden for as well as our two attractive stars.