Count the Hours

Low-budget noir melodrama. I found it kinda strange that the story is clearly meant to be about racism and intolerance, yet they cast a white American guy as the wronged man. In fact, the screenplay has a lot of problems, and some of the acting is not good, but it has a good atmosphere thanks to John Alton's great cinematography. There's one shot in particular where he makes a set of prison bars look like a spider's web... it's absolutely amazing.

Don Siegel's brisk direction and John Alton's fine noir photography almost conceal the fact that this low budget Benedict Bogeaus production is even cheaper than his usual. The leads--Wright and Carey--don't add much here, but Jack Elam is menacing and sleazy (without a touch of his typical forced charm), and Adele Mara--former Xavier Cugat canary--and Dolores Moran--Bogeaus' mistress and Galatea--each radiate an ephemeral, doomed sexuality that lingers in the memory.