ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

LeonLouisRicci The Stiff Acting and an Inconsistent Attempt at Cynical Humor do Weigh This One Down Somewhat. What Remains Though are Some Really Downbeat NYC Locations Captured by the Unfettered Realistic Camera.Film-Noir by Definition Brought to the Screen Sleazy Locations Like Greasy Spoons, Tattoo Parlors, and Things Mostly Abandoned by Hollywood's More Glossy and Friendly Output. This One has More than its Share of Norish Subtext.The Visit to the Tattoo Artist, the Subterranean Chase, and the Closing in a Cemetery Add Gravitas to the Movie that the Sometimes Witty but Mostly Sophomoric Second Rate Writing and Truly Bad Acting Can't Hide.Overall, Hampered by Amateurish Thespians and a Forced Light-Hearted Approach the Film Still Manages to be More than Acceptable Because of its Better, More Sustained Grit.

dougdoepke A woman's dead body turns up in New York's Central Park. Two detectives with help from a lab technician track down the killer, using a tattoo and a blade of grass as telltale clues.A few years later and this 60-minutes would be an episode on the TV series Naked City (1958- 63). It's got all the earmarks, including heavy police procedure, location filming, and an elusive killer. One thing the movie is not is noir, contrary to the Film Noir encyclopedia. For example, there're no dark atmospherics, moral ambiguities, or conflicted protagonist. Instead, the narrative amounts to a garden-variety crime drama, likely influenced by 1948's docu- drama The Naked City.Despite the RKO pedigree, the New York filming is clearly done on a shoestring. It's best feature amounts to a good look at tenement areas, circa 1949. Unfortunately, John Miles is shaky in the lead role of rookie detective, and I can see why it was his last film. On the other hand, there's the de-glamorized Patricia Barry (billed as White here), an actress who would later prove so expert at being coy and seductive. But as a lab technician, there's none of that here. Then too, the narrative has gaps, especially the killer's stalking of Tobin (Miles). Nonetheless, some of the staging is imaginative, especially the shoot-out among gravestones, plus the opening sequence in Central Park. But on the whole, the movie's better suited to TV than the theatre.

Martin Teller Cops try to solve the murder of a woman with only a tattoo to go on. This is a lousy movie. The performances are terrible across the board, with everyone either too wooden or way too sunny. Every time I saw John Miles (which is practically the entire movie) I wanted to wipe that dumb grin off his face. The whole thing has an absurdly jaunty feel to it, and the silly music doesn't help. Nor does the script, filled with awful exposition, bad jokes, and far too flippant in tone. As a police procedural it brings nothing new to the table, and the action scenes are oddly sluggish. There are maybe one or two interesting details, and the location photography is actually pretty good. But the rest of it stinks.

Neil Doyle Although the storyline is meager and the detective work is old-fashioned, this little "B" rates interest as a look at the seedier side of New York City in the '50s--a la THE NAKED CITY--but without the tight suspense of that "A" film. It's a strictly by-the-numbers police story with nothing more than a flat effect by the time it finishes.The low budget look is sometimes overcome by some excellent photography of New York sites but the storyline and the actors keep reminding you it's strictly an assembly line detective story. Leading man John Miles is too bland and laid back to be even mildly interesting and the same can be said for the lady botanist who helps him. None of the supporting characters come to life. As for Jack Lord--I must have blinked more than once. I didn't even spot him.