What was supposed to be scary, seemed ridiculous. What was trying to pass as talent, came off like a dud.

Very fun.

Chilling study of two psychopaths. Tierney and Trevor are a trip.

Claire Trevor is so fantastic. Her character is both vulnerable and cold hearted and that inner struggle feels so genuine I couldn't help but side with her no matter what she was doing. Her performance alone would make this film worthwhile, but we also get Lawrence Tierney who fits his character here to a T, an entertaining Slezak side character and Cook Jr. doing his thing. It's basically a character study where the tension centres on characters fighting and giving in to impulses. It's great.

Wow. Noir meets 'Match Point' with the thematic exploration of ruthless social climbing through a love square created when an intense, and young, Tierney marries Audrey Long (criminally hot - how come she didn't get a big career?). It perfectly distills existentialistic noir cornerstones such as individual morals, alienation and the drive to act on the impulse to create a better life for oneself in a meaningless world. And, as an extra bonus, genre stable character actor Elisha Cook Jr. pops up.

This movie constantly seemed on the verge of greatness, but there was something holding it back just a bit. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's still a very watchable noir. The cast of characters is pretty good, from Lawrence Tierney's ruthless killer to the corrupt (but charismatic) private eye played by Walter Slezak. The film just seeps animosity and greed.

Enjoyable, with some great characterizations and some nice photography at times, but nothing overly impressive. It lacks the sense of impending doom and the truly hard edge that would've kicked it up to the next level. It's still pretty enjoyable, though.

A hybrid of unsophisticated noir and unsophisticated soap opera doesn't make for genius filmmaking, but it's pretty fun camp. Lawrence Tierney's legendary tough/intimidating/completely insane persona is allowed free rein here. He's a scary guy but he's sure got screen presence.