writtenbymkm-583-902097 POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD. I found this film enjoyable and even suspenseful at times, but ultimately frustrating. First, the good things. Unlike some reviewers, I liked Charles Coburn's aging and ready to retire police detective (except for the weird accent). I don't think it wouldn't added much to turn him into a tough gruff cop. And he was convincingly determined to do the job. Ella Raines, as others have mentioned, was good as the two-faced wife who wanted her husband, Brian Donlevy, dead. The little trick -- spoiler alert -- of having the wife's lover try to murder her husband, only to screw it all up and get himself killed, was good. And, at the very end, Charles Coburn's detective work was enjoyable. Now, the bad things. First off, I never believed for one second that Helen Walker's wife character would be even remotely attracted to Tony Barrett's character. He came across as a sort of low-class punk, someone you'd expect to find hanging out in a cheap bar and maybe robbing booze stores. Second, the husband, Brian Donlevy, is supposed to be this tough savvy business guy, yet he doesn't immediately see though the cheap punk character passing himself off as a "cousin," even with the obvious chip on his shoulder. Third, when the "cousin" is blown up and burned "beyond recognition," why wasn't an attempt made to match up his dental records? Didn't they have dental records in the 1940s? It wasn't even mentioned. Fourth, why was I supposed to believe that husband Brian Donlevy was suddenly transformed from a white-collar business guy to a master mechanic? Did I miss something? Maybe I dozed off. Fifth, the husband's name and photograph were all over the newspapers, he was instantly recognizable to anybody who saw the papers and his photographs, yet he roams around this little town and not one single person recognizes him! "Look, it's Walter Williams, the dead guy!" Sixth, the whole way too long small-town romance thing with Brian Donlevy and the girl (Ella Raines) was boring and unbelievable. It needed MST3K bots saying, "Meanwhile, in a different movie..." Finally, I didn't believe for a minute that Brian Donlevy's husband character would suddenly agree to return to San Francisco, walk into the police station, and say, "Well, here I am, alive and well, and oh by the way, I wouldn't come sooner but I had, er, uh (spoiler) amnesia -- yeah, right. And I didn't believe for a minute that the cops and prosecutors would, instead of thoroughly investigating this amazing new development, just snap their fingers and say, "Oh, wow, okay you're under arrest for murder, somebody get his wife out of jail." So, there were way too many problems with what could've been a pretty good (but not noir) crime suspense story.
DKosty123 Ella Raines is a very good actress who did not get a lot of breaks in her career. She has talent, but it seems that she never really caught the shooting star type of role. This one gets close to it.There is a very good cast here with Donlevy and Coburn. The story is solid. The script is good and Arthur Lubin is here directing. The film noir here is solid. The story is by Jay Dratler .who wrote Laura among some other popular stories on film.It turn out this one is a good movie. It still does not make her a star, but it is a pretty good entry on her resume which has some other good films.The plot twists are enough to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat as in many a film noir, things do not go the way they are supposed too.
utgard14 Successful businessman Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) loves his pretty wife Irene (Helen Walker) more than anything. Little does he know she's plotting with her lover to kill him. During the murder attempt, Walter is hit hard on the head but lives. The other guy, however, is killed in a car crash and burned beyond recognition. Believed to have been the man killed in the crash, Walter decides not to come forward. Instead he goes to work as a mechanic in the garage of Marsha Peters (Ella Raines). When Irene is tried for his murder, Walter must decide whether or not to reveal he's still alive.Brian Donlevy is pretty good. He's at his best when his character is angry or edgy. The sappy romantic stuff doesn't fit him well. Helen Walker is a particularly hissable villainess. Lovely Ella Raines is the good girl. There's no meat to the part but she does well with what she's given. Charles Coburn plays the detective out to get to the bottom of things. He's always fun. Arthur Lubin's direction in the first half is great film noir. I loved the scene where the lover tries to kill the husband. The whole thing was brilliantly executed. Then something happens and it's like a separate movie. The second half is much less like noir and more like a standard crime melodrama where a girl has to prove her guy is innocent of murder. If the entire picture had been like the first half, I'd say it was one of film noir's best. But it isn't. It's still an enjoyable movie with some good twists and turns.
messages-lc This is absolutely NOT film noir. It's filled with romance and monologues on hope and doing the right thing, not the gritty, pessimistic ambiance of the urban jungle. In fact, it's almost after- school-special-like. Just because a movie has a crime as its major plot point does not make it film noir!That said, I was at first mildly impressed with this film. The poetic justice initially visited upon Mrs. Williams was genuinely clever. The venomous defense attorney was a nice touch. The trickery used by the protagonist to outwit his cheating, murderous wife was interesting.Then, all of a sudden, the film (like others in this faux-film-noir genre - see Kansas City Confidential) was ruined by a needless romantic sub-plot. Instead of darkly, cynically punishing his murderous wife, Walter Williams listens to his new belle and has a change of heart. Her speech wasn't even that convincing: "But that doesn't give you the right to take justice into your own hands."In fact, his wife's attempted murder DOES give him the right to mete poetic justice. That denouement would have made this film interesting. It would have made it dark. It would have made it film noir. Instead, the film's creative potential was sacrificed for a dopey romantic subplot. I'm not impressed.
