Tonight's Movie: Macao (1952) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

MACAO (1952), just released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection, is, as the saying goes, "more fun than a barrel of monkeys."MACAO has always struck me as a bit in the shadow of HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951), the first RKO film starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell.HIS KIND OF WOMAN is a wildly entertaining ride, but the final act is frankly quite disturbing at times, mixed in with fun humor.I don't think I'd seen MACAO since I reviewed it here in 2008. I'd forgotten what a good time it is. It's much more even than HIS KIND OF WOMAN and also more lighthearted, though there's certainly violence mixed in.Mitchum and Russell play Nick and Julie, two people with shady pasts who "meet cute" on a boat to Macao, where she's fending off an aggressive admirer.Nick lends a hand, which Julie repays by lifting his wallet...but all's well that ends well, they end up friends.Once in Macao with their fellow passenger, a salesman named Lawrence Trumble (William Bendix), Julie and Nick meet up…