This noir from Cornell Woolrich’s novel is one of the best adaptations of the writer’s work, conveying his trademark descent into nightmarish worlds of paranoia and impending doom. Expatriate German director Robert Siodmak (THE KILLERS, 1946, and CRISS CROSS, 1948) was often overshadowed by fellow filmmakers, Hitchcock and Lang, but was easily their equal. Produced by Joan Harrison (a frequent Hitchcock collaborator), the story unfolds with an unhappy engineer, Scott (Alan Curtis) picking up an unknown woman in a bar after a fight with his wife. Returning home, he finds a police inspector (Thomas Gomez) who informs him his spouse has been murdered. Scott is unable to find his date from the night before, and all who saw them together deny the fact. Without an alibi, he is tried and sentenced to death. Enter Scott’s feisty secretary, Carol (Ella Raines). Secretly in love with Scott, she is determined to find the real culprit. Immediately she is presented with a couple of unusual men, hopped up jazz drummer, Cliff (Elisha Cook, Jr, in a gonzo performance) and jetsetting businessman, Jack (Franchot Tone), who claims to be Scott’s best friend and offers to help. Carol’s wiles are tested as she tries not to end up the next victim.
“Channeling the spirit of the Russians (Eisenstein, Dovshenko, Vertov), the director uses grotesque angles, close-ups, and rhythms to suggest a powerful sense of seduction and torture.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
