boblipton Vera Hruba Ralston is a nightclub singer who has just had her opening night. Sidney Blackmer, a lawyer who's been stealing from the mob, asks her to marry him, but she doesn't love him. Mob boss Richard Karlan tells Warren Stevens to kill him, and he does so... with dance hall hostess Virginia Grey spotting him on the street just after the shot is fired. When homicide detectives David Brian and Lee van Cleef start investigating, the trail leads them immediately to Miss Ralston. Their problem is that the story she tells is not the story shown on the screen, nor does it match up their background checks.... and Miss Grey's attempts to blackmail a killer are not as smart as she would imagine....It's wide screen and color and from a story by W.R. Burnett and shows promise, but director Joseph Kane doesn't know how to direct the scenes for the sexual heat that Burnett's story demands, so the abrupt changes are a bit cringeworthy. Still, there's a good scene with Elisha Cook Jr. as a sweaty alky and Frank Puglia is rather sweet as a sympathetic night club owner. There's not a spot of chemistry between the leads, however, and the result is a sub-par time waster.

PhilAFN Detectives Brian and Van Cleef are assigned to investigate the murder of Mob lawyer Blackmer. The case becomes complicated when Brian falls for Ralston, who is a suspect in the case. This causes friction between Van Cleef and Brian. Meanwhile witness Grey tries to blackmail Stevens who she believes killed Blackmer. Plenty of plot twist make this a good story with unexpected ending.One might ask what Republic Pictures was doing making a color film in what is otherwise a "B" crime drama. Well, this was another showcase film for Vera Ralston who happened to be married to Herbert Yates, head of Republic at the time. It's to bad. Had Ralston's part been played by the likes of Marie Windsor or Audrey Totter and filmed in black and white, it would be a good little film noir. Still worth a watch for the story as well as noir characters Barry Kelley and Elisha Cook.

Leslie Howard Adams When gangland lawyer Frank Hobart (Sidney Blackmer) is murdered there are two suspects, Ilona Vanve (Vera Ralston), beautiful nightclub singer, and a hood named Stan (Warren Stevens), who has been hired by underworld boss Chad Bayliss (Richard Karlan) to kill Hobart.Attracted to Ilona, Lt. Detective Roy Hargis (David Brian), tries to protect her in spite of the growing evidence against her and the pressure put on him by his assistant, Sergeant Lackey (Lee Van Cleef.) Hargis thinks the case has broken when a dance-hall girl, Sandra Lamoreaux (Virginia Grey), who saw Stan at the scene of the murder, tries to use this information to blackmail him, and is badly beaten.She manages to talk to Hargis, and her story brings about Stan's capture and conviction for murder. But he didn't do it. Neither did Lee Van Cleef.And Ilona DID and DID NOT.

kong-7 Pretty mediocre murder mystery with Vera Ralston totally unappealing as nightclub singer. Her hand motions during her opening number are hilarious. David Brian makes a convincing cop if not a convincing lover. Sidney Blackmer's reactions to Ralston's singing are pretty funny too. Filmed in Naturama, whatever that is