Singapore

Often unfairly (and unjustifiably) dismissed as a Casablanca copycat, John Brahm’s Singapore pairs Fred MacMurray (Double Indemnity, 1944) and Ava Gardner (The Killers, 1946) as lovers separated by World War II not only by Japanese bombs but by permanent memory loss. After a short but passionate affair with Linda Grahame (Gardner) in Singapore, jewel smuggler Matthew Gordon (MacMurray) is just moments away from wedding her when their world explodes (literally) and Linda is presumed dead. Returning years later to retrieve a fortune of hidden pearls he had left behind, Gordon is shocked to discover that Linda’s not only still alive but married to wealthy industrialist Michael Van Leyden (Roland Culver) and has no recollection of her life before the explosion that nearly killed her. Surveilled by Deputy Commissioner Hewitt (Richard Haydn) and threatened by his former criminal associate Mauribus (Thomas Gomez), Gordon attempts to recover the pearls and avoid detection without getting Linda involved (he fails). While the story isn’t entirely original, Brahm and cinematographer Gertsman demonstrate their high standards of craftsmanship in every scene, romance and intrigue alternating with noir aesthetics, including what might be the record for most Venetian blind shadows in a single noir. The final long shot from between the wheels of an aircraft provides a creative visual twist on an undeniably (and, for some, disappointingly) happy ending.