Robert J. Maxwell Robert Taylor began his career at MGM in the 1930s and soldiered on for the next twenty years, never doing much but never getting in the way of the scenery. His default expression was a grim frown, sometimes inching its way towards bemusement. As he aged and his features coarsened, as they did after this movie, the studio simply gave up and cloaked him in armor or made him an outright sadist.Here, however, he rings the changes on his usual screen persona. He even grins. (Twice.) It may be one of his most nuanced performances. When he's introduced at the opening, driving the body of his strangled wife at a mad pace down the highway and then off into a ditch, he's shabby and his hair is all messed up. Thrice he's referred to as "a homicidal maniac." The film has him as a brain-injured amnesiac just returned from a long spell as a pilot in Burma. He finds his wife in a compromising position and just as he begins to strangle her, he passes out. Naturally, when the police find him and his wife's strangled body in a car, they arrest him but are forced to send him to a psychiatric hospital for tests -- under the tender ministrations of psychiatrist Audrey Totter.Surprise! He didn't do it. The murderer is the suave lawyer Herbert Marshall, with whom the wife was dawdling. It's complicated but it all works out at the end.It's been described as "noir" but it's unclear to me why. It's an ordinary B murder story that could have been sitting in a producer's drawer since 1935. The photography, though, by Paul Vogel, is dramatic, sometimes to the point of artsy, full of murky shadows, baby spots, and venetian blinds. For the most part, it's set bound. There are a few scenes of "dark sedans" racing through the rain but I can't recall a single scene that was shot on location in this unidentified city. It's all sets and back lots, and fortunately MGM had them all.The plot, alas, resembles a spaghetti colander, recently emptied but festooned with several pale strands, clinging relentlessly to the stainless steel. We know that poor Taylor was a bomber pilot in Europe and suffered a head wound, treated by surgery. That would account for his puzzling behavior and his spotty memory. But then he became a commercial pilot in Burma, cracked up, and suffered still ANOTHER brain injury which he has since refused treatment for. Well, one stove-in skull is enough for any man.Then, too, we know fairly soon that the debonair Herbert Marshall murdered the wife and framed Taylor. Okay. But WHY did he murder the wife. Absolutely no one asks -- not Taylor, not nobody. It isn't until the last few minutes that we discover Marshall's motive. Taylor's wife threatened to splash his name all over the media and ruin his promotion to partner at his law firm. We see it in a brief flashback. She suddenly begins to shriek and backs him up against the wall, practically begging to be murdered. The writers seem to have made up the motive at the last moment, knowing they must provide SOME springboard for the entire plot.It's not a terrible film. Taylor is better than usual and there is a fine supporting cast and some startling photography. But is suffers death by plot.

LeonLouisRicci Despite the Dated Psychological Elements Often Attempted in the Noir that were Misunderstood and some Plot Points, Like the Brain Surgery, that are Contrived to Say the Least, this is a Pulse-Pounding Picture Drenched in Shadows and Rain.Along with Offbeat Characters and a World Out of Whack this Murder Mystery is High Entertainment for Film-Noir Fans. Robert Taylor is OK as He is Trying Desperately to Change His Image from Pretty Boy to Versatile Actor. Audrey Totter is Stretched as a Psychiatrist and Herbert Marshall is Creepy Playing Against Type.There is Much Mood and Atmosphere and the Cinematography is Ripe Film-Noir with Expressionistic Lighting and those Swirling Flashbacks and Drugged Surrealism. The Film's Shortcomings, the Already Mentioned Medical Missteps, and an MGM Capitulation of a Happy Ending that is an Anti-Noir Element Happily Included by the Studio.Overall, it is a Bonafide Film-Noir with More to Recommend than Not. It is a Must See for Fans of the Genre and even those with just a Casual Concern for Forties Films and Matinée Idols Trying to Join the Post-War Cynicism that was Not Always Pretty.

jxm4687 Robert Taylor grapples valiantly with an offbeat role that may be too much for his limited range. He has some good scenes as a World War II vet who sustained head injuries and whose return to civilian life is plagued by headaches--and worse, incarceration in a county mental hospital after he is suspected of murdering his wife. Did he do it? No way, this guy was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, loves his young son whom he hasn't seen for two years (while flying charter places in Burma to earn bucks for an ambitious wife), and really wants to take a research fellowship (for a measly $200 bucks a month. Besides, the movie tips its hand as to the murderer's true identity before Taylor even appears.That first glimpse of Taylor is a stunner--he's at the wheel of a car speeding out of control, an apparently dead blonde female (his wife as it turns out) at his side, his face full of madness and anguish. Unfortunately, the movie gets bogged down in dated (and superficial) psychiatry and trite glimpses of life in a mental ward. The relationship between Taylor and his psychiatrist (Audrey Totter) strains credibility, though it does push the plot forward to a fairly exciting, if not believable, conclusion. Totter is a disappointment, drab and too serious--her performance needs more of the sharp, tart personality you get from many of her other roles. Director Curtis Bernhardt gets in a few good film noir licks here. The rain during the extended climax is effective, and the scene where hospital staff visits Taylor's mother--only to find her dead--is extraordinary.Do a few terrific moments make this a worthwhile 98 minutes? Maybe.

cengelm I'm only commenting on this movie because of it's high ratings(7.6). The whole psychiatric story is unbelievable. Brain surgery does not have a certain outcome and in this case certainly wasn't indicated. Truth serum did not exist in 1947 and isn't invented yet. And if it existed why would really anyone bother to do serious investigations. Just let us make an appointment with all suspects and apply the serum. The motivations of the real murder don't seem sufficient. The plot often jumps from one scene to the next without the expected connection. After the janitor blackmails the murder we know it's over with him. I haven't seen any other movie with Robert Taylor so it may be that this is his best performance. By today's standards this is not more than4 / 10.