Marjorie Lord is the wife of Pierre Watkin who's running for governor. Her life is seemingly perfect, but Watkin doesn't know she used to be, and maybe still is?, a con artist who seduced men for their money. When her former partner in crime, Robert Shayne, comes back into her life, he wants some of the money she now has access to. Half to be precise, or else he'll tell Watkin about her past. Lord can't let him do that, and she kills him. The police arrest his gf tho, Ruth Brady. In a twist of fate, Lord is assigned jury duty on Brady's trial, who faces the death penalty...
The plot of this movie is reminiscent of 1948's Blonde Ice, but Marjorie Lord ('The Argyle Secrets') never comes across as cold-hearted as Leslie Brooks. It's a bit of a shame, as Lord does well at the start of this movie as the socialite lady. But she's not quite convincing enough as a conniving femme fatale. Still, she does a nice job, and I enjoyed watching her. Robert Shayne ('Three Strangers', 'Mr. Skeffington') is also quite decent as the con artist who went to prison, bounced back, and now wants a piece of his ex-partner's pie. The rest of the cast are what you'd expect from low-budget B movies like this one, adequate but forgettable.
Even tho he's credited as Sherman Scott in this movie, it was prolific B-director Sam Newfield ('The Lady Confesses', 'Mask Of The Dragon') that directed this noir. If anything, his experience at making these sorts of low-budget movies that had to be done as quickly as possible, helps this movie. There is no room for filler, it moves at a rapid pace, fitting a decently plotted story into an hour runtime, but things never feel too rushed. And the movie has a nicely ironic ending. I do wish more time was spent on the lighting, DoP Jack Greenhalgh ('Fingerpints Don't Lie', 'F.B.I. Girl') doesn't do much lighting wise aside from a few scenes inside dark apartments. But for these types of quick programmers, this one's quite decent and enjoyable.
The plot of this movie is reminiscent of 1948's Blonde Ice, but Marjorie Lord ('The Argyle Secrets') never comes across as cold-hearted as Leslie Brooks. It's a bit of a shame, as Lord does well at the start of this movie as the socialite lady. But she's not quite convincing enough as a conniving femme fatale. Still, she does a nice job, and I enjoyed watching her. Robert Shayne ('Three Strangers', 'Mr. Skeffington') is also quite decent as the con artist who went to prison, bounced back, and now wants a piece of his ex-partner's pie. The rest of the cast are what you'd expect from low-budget B movies like this one, adequate but forgettable.
Even tho he's credited as Sherman Scott in this movie, it was prolific B-director Sam Newfield ('The Lady Confesses', 'Mask Of The Dragon') that directed this noir. If anything, his experience at making these sorts of low-budget movies that had to be done as quickly as possible, helps this movie. There is no room for filler, it moves at a rapid pace, fitting a decently plotted story into an hour runtime, but things never feel too rushed. And the movie has a nicely ironic ending. I do wish more time was spent on the lighting, DoP Jack Greenhalgh ('Fingerpints Don't Lie', 'F.B.I. Girl') doesn't do much lighting wise aside from a few scenes inside dark apartments. But for these types of quick programmers, this one's quite decent and enjoyable.