Henry Hathaway directs a very stylish film noir that takes advantage of some location shots in New York City to provide some gritty realism. The story is something out of a pulp detective novel with hard-boiled MARK STEVENS finding himself in a dark corner after a brush with the law and some cheating by his ex-partner KURT KREUGER.
His beautiful secretary is well played by LUCILLE BALL in a rare dramatic role and she does fine as the gal who stands beside her man when he's knee deep in trouble and wants to clear himself of a frame-up.
*****POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD*****
CLIFTON WEBB is the art gallery owner whose role in the web of deception isn't fully revealed at first, reminds me of his Lydecker character from "Laura," again obsessed by a beautiful woman, this time his wife CATHY DOWNS. All hell breaks loose when he realizes that Downs is cheating on him with Kreuger.
WILLIAM BENDIX is one of Webb's pawns, tracking Stevens and making him think that Bendix is the bad buy behind all the bad stuff happening to him. One of the film's most shocking sequences has Webb inviting Bendix to meet him at his dentist's building where he has an appointment. I won't reveal more than that.
Summing up: A good, solid film noir that has many attributes of stories like "Laura," filmed in shadowy style.
Drawback: Stevens is not quite as convincing in hard-boiled detective mode as someone like Alan Ladd in these sort of roles. He's much more believable in the many "nice guy" roles he played at Fox. However, his chemistry with Lucille Ball is good.
His beautiful secretary is well played by LUCILLE BALL in a rare dramatic role and she does fine as the gal who stands beside her man when he's knee deep in trouble and wants to clear himself of a frame-up.
*****POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD*****
CLIFTON WEBB is the art gallery owner whose role in the web of deception isn't fully revealed at first, reminds me of his Lydecker character from "Laura," again obsessed by a beautiful woman, this time his wife CATHY DOWNS. All hell breaks loose when he realizes that Downs is cheating on him with Kreuger.
WILLIAM BENDIX is one of Webb's pawns, tracking Stevens and making him think that Bendix is the bad buy behind all the bad stuff happening to him. One of the film's most shocking sequences has Webb inviting Bendix to meet him at his dentist's building where he has an appointment. I won't reveal more than that.
Summing up: A good, solid film noir that has many attributes of stories like "Laura," filmed in shadowy style.
Drawback: Stevens is not quite as convincing in hard-boiled detective mode as someone like Alan Ladd in these sort of roles. He's much more believable in the many "nice guy" roles he played at Fox. However, his chemistry with Lucille Ball is good.