The romantic scenes were awful, alright, but this is a great low budget thriller.

If you imagine what an archetypal film noir should look like, this ticks all of the boxes. Dark corners, long shadows, obscured faces, silhouettes, high contrasts... it's a great looking film. The plot is a little flimsy, and the ending is really out of step with the rest of the film, but for the most part it has a nicely cynical edge. Ireland is suitably mean and Jane Randolph does a convincing job of playing a lush. Overall, not a classic, but worth a watch.

Standard frame-up story. Not much about it stood out. There's some very good lighting, although I don't think Mann really made the most of it. And there's amusing scene where John Ireland spies on Sheila Ryan (by the way... YUM) and Jane Randolph having a catfight with a perverted smirk on his face. On the negative side, Ireland makes some insane decisions that just don't add up. Other than that there isn't much memorable about it at all, but I get such a kick out of this type of movie.