Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Siflutter
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
LeonLouisRicci
All You need do is Look at the very Last Shot in this Film to tell the Difference between Absolute Film-Noir and by 1950, the need for a more Optimistic View. To be a bit Melodramatic, the turn of the Decade was the Beginning of the End for the Genre known as Film-Noir. While there Certainly were a Number of Movies to fit the Category in the Eisenhower Years they were becoming, as a Whole, Diluted. This is a Complex Film that Requires some Concentration. It Moves through the use of Flashbacks to tell the Story and there are Numerous Characters with Numerous Interactions and it is all a bit much to Digest.But it is well Worth a Watch for some Good Scenes and a Number of Diverse Settings. The Dialog is less than Cynical and the Characters are less than Baroque. But it has Enough of a Conceit to draw You in and Play with You a bit, and Challenges at almost every Turn of Events.It does fit, somewhat Uncomfortably in the Noir Category but for the best of the Genre, it really is, Mostly, from 1940-1949. There are Exceptions of course but as Time Marched On, Film-Noir was not Always what it Seemed.
madmonkmcghee
It's hard to resist making puns about the title, but i will. Instead i will use this space to explain why this is not a Noir movie, but a tepid murder mystery. "Pray tell us, oh Wise One!" Right then, are you sitting comfortably? Then i'll begin. Noir stories are all about moral ambiguity and moral choices. People doing the wrong things knowingly but still they can't help themselves. Or they can, but don't. Does this apply to this movie? Only if the O'Brien character had turned out to have betrayed his army buddy, or the cute nurse to have been in cahoots with the killer. Instead we are supposed to be wondering who the killer is, even if it's blindingly obvious as soon as he's on screen. "Excuse me sir, but why exactly are you in this story? You seem to serve no purpose whatsoever. "Ha! How wrong can you be!" And why didn't they make O'Brien the lead? And why, when so many superior noirs are gathering dust, was this put on DVD? Now that's a crime.
edwagreen
Gordon MacRae in an actual totally non-singing role. He did well here as a veteran searching through the film for his war buddy Edmond O'Brien who seems to have gone missing as the Gordon character is supposed to be released from the hospital.Ironically, the femme fatale here is not Virginia Mayo but rather Viveca Lindfors, who delivers a quality performance. Ed Begley is his usual crusty self as the head of the police force and Dane Clark steals each scene he is in and as always is at his best in his insanity scene with those bulging eyes.When the bodies start to pile up, you think it's all related to gambling, but as always there is a girl involved and trouble ahead for those who fell for her.
WarnersBrother
It isn't difficult to see why this film was held back from release for two years. On a strictly personal level, when I get to see a retorted film noir from Warner's with Edmond O'Brien, Dane Clark and Virginia Mayo, I'm in. But this wasted all of them along with a supporting cast including uncredited parts by some previously and later known stalwarts.It isn't really much of a film noir, borrows heavily from others and is quite poorly helmed by Vincent Sherman who completely mis-handles the actors and is lensed in a very lackluster fashion.If you are an O' Brien fan like me, he is a cameo on this pic and by the time it was released was a leading man. Dependable Dane Clark is used over the top of his skills and lovely Virginia Mayo is denied her chance to shine as the good girl. Gordon McRae isn't nearly as bad as some have said, but suffers from a directorial failure.I do feel the need to comment on a previous review above regarding a subtextual homosexual relationship between McRae and O'Brien. They have a total of less than 4 minutes screen time together and the rest of the film can only lead me to think that the reviewer may have a penchant for finding skeletons not in this particular closet.Vincent Sherman made some exceptional films "The Hard Way" comes to mind, but this is one of his least efforts.
