I chose to watch this film because it was written by Sam Fuller--and Fuller was a freakin' genius at making exceptional small-budget films. However, as you'll notice from the IMDb trivia that Fuller's original tough-as-nails ending was changed--and a cheap clichéd ending was added. And, after watching it, I would agree that the ending was terrible--but what occurred before that wasn't a whole lot better.
The film begins with a lady getting paroled. She'd murdered someone and her parole officer (Cornell Wilde) insists she cannot see her old boyfriend as a condition of parole. However, the next day she's caught with him. Instead of violating her parole, he instead treats her very, very strangely. Like a total sap, he brings her and another parolee home to meet his family and have dinner with them! Soon, he hires her to look after his blind mother--and she's practically part of the family.
You wonder if any officer could ever have been that stupid or have such poor personal boundaries! You assume that any parole officer behaving like he does during the film would be immediately fired! Throughout much of the film, it's obvious she's playing her parole officer and secretly meets with the old boyfriend. Eventually, however, it's uncertain--could she be falling in love with Wilde? You sure as heck know he's falling for her! This is a film where you very seriously have to suspend your sense of disbelief--otherwise the plot simply won't make any sense. After all, Wilde's character is absolutely unbelievable...and as the film progresses, he gets worse and worse! As for me, I wasn't able to suspend my belief THIS much! I am not sure how much of this was due to Fuller and how much was due to studio meddling, but it was a problematic script from the outset. It MIGHT have worked if Wilde had played a dishonest p.o. from the outset--not the super-officer he was supposed to be. The one redeeming value the film has is the great dialog--very gritty and enjoyable for fans of film noir (except for the inexplicable line about 'getting a crook' and moving to California). But the story just didn't make any sense and it clearly could have used a re-write or just an entirely new plot--and an ending that is believable. The story could have worked, but instead of tense film noir it sometimes closer resembled "Dumb and Dumber"! Could a supposedly smart man act dumb over a 'dame'? Sure--but the film just didn't sell the idea well at all.
The film begins with a lady getting paroled. She'd murdered someone and her parole officer (Cornell Wilde) insists she cannot see her old boyfriend as a condition of parole. However, the next day she's caught with him. Instead of violating her parole, he instead treats her very, very strangely. Like a total sap, he brings her and another parolee home to meet his family and have dinner with them! Soon, he hires her to look after his blind mother--and she's practically part of the family.
You wonder if any officer could ever have been that stupid or have such poor personal boundaries! You assume that any parole officer behaving like he does during the film would be immediately fired! Throughout much of the film, it's obvious she's playing her parole officer and secretly meets with the old boyfriend. Eventually, however, it's uncertain--could she be falling in love with Wilde? You sure as heck know he's falling for her! This is a film where you very seriously have to suspend your sense of disbelief--otherwise the plot simply won't make any sense. After all, Wilde's character is absolutely unbelievable...and as the film progresses, he gets worse and worse! As for me, I wasn't able to suspend my belief THIS much! I am not sure how much of this was due to Fuller and how much was due to studio meddling, but it was a problematic script from the outset. It MIGHT have worked if Wilde had played a dishonest p.o. from the outset--not the super-officer he was supposed to be. The one redeeming value the film has is the great dialog--very gritty and enjoyable for fans of film noir (except for the inexplicable line about 'getting a crook' and moving to California). But the story just didn't make any sense and it clearly could have used a re-write or just an entirely new plot--and an ending that is believable. The story could have worked, but instead of tense film noir it sometimes closer resembled "Dumb and Dumber"! Could a supposedly smart man act dumb over a 'dame'? Sure--but the film just didn't sell the idea well at all.