Even though the New York Times reviewed this
film as a melodrama " and, to get the unpleasantness over with as quickly
as possible, it is the type which reflect absolutely no credit upon anyone
connected with it". Critics sometimes stick around for 15 minutes and read
the studios summary before writing their review. I have witnessed critics
ducking out in the dark of the theater and a review the next day. Especially
I imagine for B run of the mill films. Thing is this is no melodrama but
is instead a solid noirish murder mystery with a few twists and a tough nut
smart cop putting it together. Sort of. It has a long cast of characters
but the film fleshes them all out with some sharp edged dialogue. It has
no big stars or even small ones but a good group of actors hitting their
marks and sounding authentic.
Red Bailey (Douglas Fowler) is on the run after robbing a bank and killing
a teller. His lawyer John Moreland (John Eldredge) picks him up on the road
and they drive off. The next day Moreland's car is found with a dead unrecognizable
body in it. The assumption is that it is Moreland, but Lt. McMullen (Larry
Blake) and his Romeo partner aren't so sure. But if it is Moreland, a few
suspects are in the picture. Red Bailey, his alluring wife (Jean Rogers),
the man who loves her and Moreland's partner. They all look like they are
hiding something. Throw in a harsher Lizabeth Scott lookalike in Louise Curry
who is so brittle and cutthroat that you would never want her standing behind
you. It basically turns into a police procedural but departs from that format
in a very strange nihilistic ending. A homeless bum (Leonard Strong) philosophizing
about life and the evil of women had no place in this film but it's great.
As is the maid's comic performance from Sara Berner, a famous voice actress
at the time who could do any dialect.
