An early Anthony Mann-directed movie before he hooked up with James Stewart for some fine Westerns in the early 50's, this is a fine noir thriller with a twist or three along the way. It contains the unusual device of a voice-over by a female rather than male character and yes, that "Twilight Zone"-type soundtrack does take a bit of getting used to, I kept expecting some flying saucer or other to fall out of the sky any minute.
Mind you the sky certainly falls in on main character escaped con Joe Cameron, played by Dennis O'Keefe, not only double-crossed into jail by his onetime partner played by Raymond Burr, but then deliberately sprung by the latter in the hope he'll get gunned down in the attempt. Of course that doesn't happen and so he finds himself on the run with two vying women in tow, the first, his long-standing, long-suffering girl-friend played by Claire Trevor, the second, his lawyer's clean-living secretary, Ann, played by Marsha Hunt whom he inveigles into his getaway against her will, but who falls for him anyway as things play out.
It all ends on a dark, misty night (naturally) with O'Keefe confronting Burr and a fiery, violent and naturally pessimistic ending, with nobody winning, in true noir style.
Gloomy and cynical as you'd expect, it's firstly a treat for the eyes, almost every scene shot in dull light, with unusual camera perspectives employed for the interiors and the device of shooting Burr from below to accentuate his bulk and menace. There's sharp dialogue too and some nice in-plotting, particularly Burr's relationship with his lippy almost insubordinate henchman Fantail, played by John Ireland. There are individual memorable scenes too, most notably Burr throwing a flambé straight at the camera to ruthlessly maim an innocent girl who accidentally bumps into him after he's received some bad news and his later demise, suitably in flames, backwards out of a window, but there are other gems strewn about too, for instance Trevor's face superimposed on an anxiously watched clock and her full-profile, veil-covered face when she answers a telephone in the foreground delivering, wouldn't you know it, some bad news.
The only mistake really is when another movie about a runaway wife-killer gate-crashes the narrative, but after that it settles down again onto its relentless course to its fiery finish. The acting is fine by all, O'Keefe's lack of star status helping his "ordinary Joe" persona, Trevor is very good as the self-deluding girlfriend and Burr too as the heavyweight gangster still twitchy about O'Keefe catching up with him.
This is a fine noir-thriller which can be enjoyed as sheer entertainment or as a fine study of the genre in microcosm.
Mind you the sky certainly falls in on main character escaped con Joe Cameron, played by Dennis O'Keefe, not only double-crossed into jail by his onetime partner played by Raymond Burr, but then deliberately sprung by the latter in the hope he'll get gunned down in the attempt. Of course that doesn't happen and so he finds himself on the run with two vying women in tow, the first, his long-standing, long-suffering girl-friend played by Claire Trevor, the second, his lawyer's clean-living secretary, Ann, played by Marsha Hunt whom he inveigles into his getaway against her will, but who falls for him anyway as things play out.
It all ends on a dark, misty night (naturally) with O'Keefe confronting Burr and a fiery, violent and naturally pessimistic ending, with nobody winning, in true noir style.
Gloomy and cynical as you'd expect, it's firstly a treat for the eyes, almost every scene shot in dull light, with unusual camera perspectives employed for the interiors and the device of shooting Burr from below to accentuate his bulk and menace. There's sharp dialogue too and some nice in-plotting, particularly Burr's relationship with his lippy almost insubordinate henchman Fantail, played by John Ireland. There are individual memorable scenes too, most notably Burr throwing a flambé straight at the camera to ruthlessly maim an innocent girl who accidentally bumps into him after he's received some bad news and his later demise, suitably in flames, backwards out of a window, but there are other gems strewn about too, for instance Trevor's face superimposed on an anxiously watched clock and her full-profile, veil-covered face when she answers a telephone in the foreground delivering, wouldn't you know it, some bad news.
The only mistake really is when another movie about a runaway wife-killer gate-crashes the narrative, but after that it settles down again onto its relentless course to its fiery finish. The acting is fine by all, O'Keefe's lack of star status helping his "ordinary Joe" persona, Trevor is very good as the self-deluding girlfriend and Burr too as the heavyweight gangster still twitchy about O'Keefe catching up with him.
This is a fine noir-thriller which can be enjoyed as sheer entertainment or as a fine study of the genre in microcosm.