Like a great movie released the same year - The Big Sleep - this is a very confusing mystery movie like a Raymond Chandler novel or Hitchcock film - but the corners and edges are rougher and the script is not as smooth and clever. The dialogue also doesn't compare to that great film and frankly a number of the scenes just don't cut it.
The ending is a bit of a letdown to be straightforward.
The director Don Siegel is making one of his first films - before he would go on to things like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Babyface Nelson and of course Dirty Harry.
He looks to still be getting his bearings here and considering his lack of experience -does a very good job.
The adapted screenplay is in capable hands but just falls short of greatness.
Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are a great team - they make up for a lot of the film's shortcomings. There is a strong cast of British actors who also give the film some added weight. George Colouris is excellent - he was part of the Mercury Theatre group of Orson Welles. He played Walter Parks Thatcher in Citizen Kane.
The mystery of this film is really Joan Lorring - who is beyond excellent and on the screen for far too short of a time. She is mesmerizing every second she is on and it is a great wonder she did not turn into a major star as she was obviously meant to be. It doesn't make sense that Jack Warner, who produced this film, would have let her leave the studio to go on to a career in independent productions, Italian movies, and the New York theater when she could have been as big as Ava Gardner or Audrey Hepburn.
The ending is a bit of a letdown to be straightforward.
The director Don Siegel is making one of his first films - before he would go on to things like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Babyface Nelson and of course Dirty Harry.
He looks to still be getting his bearings here and considering his lack of experience -does a very good job.
The adapted screenplay is in capable hands but just falls short of greatness.
Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are a great team - they make up for a lot of the film's shortcomings. There is a strong cast of British actors who also give the film some added weight. George Colouris is excellent - he was part of the Mercury Theatre group of Orson Welles. He played Walter Parks Thatcher in Citizen Kane.
The mystery of this film is really Joan Lorring - who is beyond excellent and on the screen for far too short of a time. She is mesmerizing every second she is on and it is a great wonder she did not turn into a major star as she was obviously meant to be. It doesn't make sense that Jack Warner, who produced this film, would have let her leave the studio to go on to a career in independent productions, Italian movies, and the New York theater when she could have been as big as Ava Gardner or Audrey Hepburn.