Very good acting and well worth watching.

Certainly not Maltese Falcon. For me the acting was a bit "over" by the two principals, and Neville Brand as Chester the Creep with his Peter Lorre looks was truly exaggerated. Those wolf whistle sound bite overdubs on the early partying scene with the salesmen and pretty girls dancing in the hallway of the St. Francis Hotel every time Frank/O'Brien made google eyes at all the girls?--what the heck was with that? Directorial idea? Ick. No, it was pretty poor. Though overall the movie carried itself just by the story line. Intriguing story. And the cinematography was good. Especially liked the intricate staircase shot on the final shootout scene. Funny how most of the gunshots were never aimed at the target, sort of just point and fire. And the cellophane-slick platinum blonde hair on the women (especially Paula's) was so Barbie doll fake--ha! Lana Turner-esque. Also it sure showed how those old films pushed alcohol & cigarettes--it's no wonder an entire milieu evolved around it. The film just wasn't truly realistic--a bit melodramatic, almost like a parody of good film noir, as if knowing it was Grade B made them play it as a B flick, with B actors. Kind of a hoot though! Worth watching.

One of the better B movies. It has a unique plot in that a "murdered" man goes in search of his killer and the reason for his murder. It has quite a few twists along the way. Yes, there are a few areas of overacting, but not bad. All in all this is one of the movies I watch regularly, at least once a year.

in this noir thriller about a man in search of his killer. This one made it to TV in the early fifties, with a young teenage to be screen queen by the name of Beverly Garland. The gist of the story of her career is more devious than the twists in the story of this movie, for when interviewed on her first large movie assignment about the possible attention by the Oscars for this little movie, she tried to be honest and said it probably didn't stand a chance.That miffed the seniors at the studio so badly she was blacklisted for years, only to reappear as a scream queen in some of the lowest dreck monster movies you can think of. Later she ran a hotel successfully until her recent death last couple years.It's not nice to upset the suits, especially when they luck out. That's the story anyway.But check out a young Hugh O Brian as a jazz enthusiast. Overacting by Pam Britton doesn't seem to keep the movie from becoming well, moving.And Neville Brand gets to show his psychotic chops that rivals Johnny Udo by Richard Widmark in "Kiss of Death" a couple years before.All I can remember is, everytime the "Rainout Theatre" came on when the ballgame was called out because of weather it was either this flick, or "Nabonga" with Buster Crabbe.Ohh for the good old days of early TV, when they knew how to fill the time with quality stuff.Dennis Quaid, eat your heart out, this was the way it was supposed to be done.