One of the cheesiest, most laughable noirs I have ever seen.

Has most of the key noir ingredients, but is let down by a weak screenplay. It's too reliant on coincidences by far - Lake's boyfriend just happens to be the investigating cop... Lake and Ladd just happen to meet on the train... Lake just happens to be hired as a double-agent to spy on the chemical company... It's just too contrived and takes away from an otherwise good film. It also feels a bit light and fluffy compared to other noirs of the time - the musical sequences made me wince.

Good noir with a strong performance by Ladd in an interesting role.

Gritty, suspenseful and action packed early film noir that has a star turning peformance from Alan Ladd as a hit man who gets in too deep. Clearly an influence on later film noir and gangster movies, and was surprisingly popular during WWII. I would like to thank TCM for airing this great gem.

the shadow of the moving microphone

Entertaining at times, primarily thanks to Alan Ladd in his breakthrough role. But mostly somewhat silly because of some ludicrous plot points (Singer/magician gets hired by the police to spy on a suspected traitor??).

certain parts of it are like "the third man" lite. good early noir, the script and direction are decent but Ladd does a very good job

This movie is a lot more "out there" than you expect of a movie this age. Alan Ladd is very convincing and kinda scary

The story is good: a double-crossed hit man looking for revenge falls in with a young woman innocently mixed up with the guys who did him wrong. If they had cast someone a bit more solid as an actress, this could have been a real winner. Unfortunately, they went with Veronica Lake, who wasn't tough enough for the role she was in. Alan Ladd is great as the assassin, and Tully Marshall as the timid double-crosser.

Wow--Ladd and Lake together. You can see why that charisma became proverbial.

This is so 1940s. A textbook film noir with Veronica Lake doing musical numbers (and magic tricks!). Granted, it's really contrived, in fact the text is bad, but I've seen worse and the classic "feel" almost makes up for it. Alan Ladd is cute acting like a brick wall, and it's rather well paced and watchable.

Kind of a "noir lite". The elements are there, but everything is toned down a notch. The mood is a bit too lighthearted... and occasionally just plain goofy. Lake is alluring but she never really digs into the role. Ladd is okay as the hitman anti-hero. The cinematography is at times evocative, but mostly too flat or too sunny. The story feels oddly paced. And yet, it kinda sorta satisfies. It's fun while still maintaining some level of darkness, and it'll scratch a noir itch in a pinch.

That last line ruins it a bit, but overall a good noir.

Some odd shifts in mood and tone here, but Ladd and Lake together are wonderful.