Excellent noir centered around an obsessed detective, played wonderfully by Wilde who really sells it without going over the top. It also helps that Richard Conte is great as his nemesis, a suave and smart man who shows few signs of being rattled until the inevitable end. Great pacing and a well executed ending to cap it off. The only weak point was the leading lady, Jean Wallace is attractive but not a strong actress.

Fantastic. Wilde manages to (mostly) hold his own against Conte's imposingly smooth menace as a fraying, obsessed detective. Van Cleef and Holliman are equally memorable taking care of the dirty work. Alton's top-billing lighting. Bleak, unglamorous violence. There are just so many things right about it.

On the darker end of the noir spectrum, this is gritty, violent stuff. The torture scene with the hearing-aid is truly chilling. In certain respects it reminded me of HBO's The Wire. Wilde's character could be Jimmy McNulty's grandad... an obsessive, self-destructive personality with a penchant for booze and cheap sex, determined to bring down one man, no matter what the cost. I'd be surprised if David Simon hasn't seen this. (Apropos of nothing: Holy crap, how gorgeous is Jean Wallace?!)

I normally don't think much of Richard Conte, but he plays it up here as a ruthless villain. It's an unusually violent film for its time, with a high body count and even an unorthodox torture scene. John Alton's cinematography is the usual low-key, moody stuff you expect. A good film, but lacking the moral ambiguity or psychological tension that is usually required of noir.

the whole noir lighting definitely shows through, but the entire movie here looks like it's overexposed. i enjoyed the movie, even if there's a bit of over acting here and there (except for conte, he was awesome). it's got a pretty decent story and the bottom line is that there's a whole heck of a lot of worse noir movies out there, even if this isn't the best.

Fun, but I thought it was kind of overcooked. The plot is pretty twisty but feels arbitrary, with some rather abrupt reveals and shifts. I did really enjoy Conte as the villain, though. As far as the cinematography goes, Netflix's version was pretty soft, so I probably didn't get to see the film in its best light (pun intended). I'll have to revisit it when a better version is available.

The script is nothing special (except for a few good lines and exchanges), but at least the cast sells it well. The cinematography is what really makes this film shine. I guess I just like good looking noir movies so much that I can excuse the weaker aspects of the film.

Excellent noir. It has a thick, moody atmosphere, assisted by shadowy cinematography. Conte makes a fantastic villain. The trail of corpses he leaves in his wake is impressive, and the film is pretty violent for its time. Wilde holds up his end as well, driven as much by his infatuation as his sense of justice. Wallace is rather weak, though her role is smaller than you'd expect. There's some wonderful supporting performances, especially Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman as Conte's henchmen.

What can I say, I'm a huge sucker for film noir....

Ostensibly film noir, but firmly grounded in typical Hollywood morality. The plot may be blasé, but the cinematography makes it all worthwhile. This film nails the noir aesthetic: even the shadows cast more shadows! Recommended for its visual impact.

Amazing cinematography. If it wasn't for the absence of a femme fatale and the underwhelming final 20 minutes, this would be the definition of the film noir genre.

A low budget noir classic.

Its something to see for the lighting alone, which has almost always been exceptional what Film Noirs I've seen. What causes me to knock a mark off this solid piece of gritty B-movie is that, for a genre which used its morally grey worlds to demonstrate issues of morality more poignantly than hammering it into the viewer, the character of Lt. Leonard Diamond is prevented from being the flawed hero who fights crime by irritating soapbox rants about justice out of place in these films.

No, it's not a film about an extra-large Happy Meal, it's a hard-boiled chunk of pulp fiction directed by Joseph Lewis and artfully photographed by John Alton. Enough odd touches (over-the-top violence, homoeroticism, Conte's performance) keep this above average.

Even if it is not as good as Gun Crazy it is quite a nice Film Noir with pretty remarkeble pictures - especially in the end. You can't expect more from a b-movie.