Eddie Darrow, played by Tony Curtis, is sent to Macao, which borders China, to bring back to the U.S. a gangster’s ex-wife (Joanne Dru) because of the money she possesses.  There are prodigious difficulties, though, because 1) the ex-wife (Christine by name) is Eddie’s old flame and 2) she is now the fiancee of Justin, a Macao casino owner.  And here we have Rudolph Mate‘s Forbidden, from 1953.

This is a very likable movie, but I wish fewer entertainment films strained credulity, as Forbidden does quite often.  (Aw shucks, Christine overheard Eddie’s cock-and-bull story to an American gangster [a story the gangster was prepared to believeabout how he planned to deceive her.)  But when it doesn’t strain credulity, William Sackheim’s screenplay is gratifying.  The film is robust—if not, I’m afraid, a masterpiece of acting.  Curtis is mediocre.  Dru gives a merely routine performance although, along with being beautiful, she is as classy-looking as a human being can get.  Lyle Bettger, as Justin, knows how to be debonair—and memorable.