clanciai
It's impossible to get at the mystery here. Like the three main suspects find themselves in a maze of trouble in having no idea of what is going on, so will the audience find themselves in hopeless bewilderment that just gets worse all the time for the towering confusion. At the same time, this film is hilariously witty and surprising all the way - the odd twists and turns of this outrageously baffling mystery never stop coming up with new surprises, while the greatest one awaits you in the end. There is a lot of house-breaking in this film, and none of the actors seem surprised or even to mind that people keep breaking in at midnight to keep them company in their bedroom. Victor Mature is the lead as the most harassed suspect, but Laird Cregar as the inspector general gets the better of the whole show - if ever you were troubled by nasty policemen, they will all appear like angels in comparison with this awesome smiling sadist, who enjoys subjecting you to interminable psychic torture, and he is sure to get you in the end - his record is perfect, there is not a trace of a flaw in his long career, and everyone hates him, including his fellow policemen, especially his chief. This policeman could make you hate all policemen forever. It's a fascinating character performance that you will never forget.Victor Mature is hardened enough by his long association with difficult people in publicity business to be able to cope with him endurably, while he scares both Betty Grable and Alan Mowbray. Elisha Cook is scary in the other direction, while the blonde sisters Betty Grable and Carole Landis are too pretty and easily carried away not to end up in trouble. Carole Landis is the beauty whom you only meet in flashbacks, while her sister is less convincing as a blonde bombshell - how could anyone fall in love with her? The main attraction and asset of the film is the brilliant script and story with a dialogue that will send you flying with delight over and over again. Everyone is witty, and the sparkling humour is a startling contrast to the sinister dark mystery of the murder, perfectly unsolvable, and yet the logic of the story couldn't be more impeccable and natural.
Phillim
Just go with it -- suspend all disbelief and enjoy! Her sister may have just been murdered, but lovely Betty Grable giggles as she makes with a hacksaw on big lug Victor Mature's handcuffs! Laird Cregar menaces as a giant, obsessed detective who purrs philsophically! All that and Elisha Cook Jr.! Fox staff composer Cyril J. Mockridge provides the score -- giddy alternating repetition of 'Over the Rainbow' and Gershwin pastiche ('Rhapsody in Blue'?), as love theme and underworld suspense motif, respectively. Sounds as slapped-together-in-a-hurry as the film looks -- in a good way! The crazy pace and goofy energy are this film's admirable strengths.Watch for the not-even-close/no-time-to-get-it-right rear projection as Cregar and Mature take an uncomfortable drive uptown in a convertible. Otherwise the design and lighting/photography are swell.Ace perennial English butler Allan Mowbray gets to expand his comic and dramatic range as a flamboyant aging stage actor/superb physical coward. Charles 'oh yeah, that guy' Lane appears as his typical taciturn, semi-bald, bespectacled self in the role of the cooperative florist -- not quite the usual 'angry authority' bit he played hundreds of times on film and TV into the 1990s. (Lane, a founding member of SAG, passed in 2007 at age 102 -- one of the last survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.)This is a good film to study regarding the phenomenon of 'star quality' -- never was Victor Mature's self-admitted aggressive lack of interest in Acting more apparent, or more perfectly utilised!
writers_reign
This movie provides a fascinating insight into the way movies 'borrow' from one another and how subtly they avoid charges of both incest and plagiarism. This one kicks off with a title that is pure Cornell Woolllrich/William Irish and negates it immediately by bearing no trace of anyone doing any such thing - although it does tip its had by having a major character named Cornell. The main coincidence is having the detective (Laird Cregar) leading the hunt for the murdered of Vicki Lynn (Carol Landis) being in love with her and ultimately revealed to have an apartment full of photos and mementos of her. Three years later detective Dana Andrews fell in love with a dead girl, Laura, whilst assigned to find her killer but having checked the similarities let's look at the differences. Andrews had never heard of Laura (Gene Tierney) until he was assigned to the case whereas Cornell not only knew Vicki in life but turned out to be the killer plus we met Vicki some time before she was killed whereas Laura is dead (so we think) for about the first five or six reels before turning up alive. On the other hand both films were produced by Fox who, for good measure, remade IWUS in the fifties as Vicki. All that to one side this is a stylish noir with Victor Mature equalling the performances he gave in Cry Of The City and Kiss of Death and Betty Grable showing she could handle a straight acting role (wisely they cut the scene where she sings Bobby Troup's 'Daddy' but the good news is it's available as an 'extra' on the DVD.
dougdoepke
Studio thick ear doesn't come any slicker than this. It's TCF's second unit hitting on all eight cylinders, from casting to directing to story telling, all expertly done. And that's despite the dismal comic book title.So who killed fun-loving Vicki (Landis). Could it be the blonde lovely's visual opposite, the dark featured Frankie (Mature). Probably not since he's the male lead. More likely, it's scrawny fall-guy Elisha Cook as the hotel deskman. After all, Cook's taken more movie dives than a washed up boxer. But don't forget the snobbish gossip columnist (Joslyn) or the hammy actor (Mowbray). Frankie sure better figure it out because gruesome cop Cornell (Cregar) has him slated for the kind of seat you don't get up from.The photography's early noir all the way. Catch the many interesting shadowy angles, especially with the thick featured Cregar. Too bad he died so young (crash diet) because there's been no one since who could project such hulking decadence. Speaking of unfortunate early deaths, Landis sparkles in her lively role. Too bad she too left us early, apparently from a broken heart. Here, she and Grable really do look like sisters.Anyhow, the whole thing is really smoothly done, in a way that keeps you riveted to the screen, including the lighter moments with a well calibrated Joslyn and Mowbray. All in all, it's Hollywood slicksters at their professional best.
AD
