MisterWhiplash I can't not believe Dan Duryea wasn't creates in some early 20th century science experiment to appear as the heel in 40s film noirs.This is an outstanding film and it makes me reconsider the 'Femme Fatale' for the time. Lizbeth Scott is playing everyone around her - even the slimy heel Duryea, up until she needs him for her own descending criminal plot - but what choice does she have? She's a character that puts on s face for so many around her (I even wondered in the first scene in the car with her husband if thread the case, maybe a moment where the little like is already established). She may not be nice, and in fact she soon becomes a killer and plans to kill again if she has to in order to get the money that she and her man stash away in a locker. But we do understand her, or at least I did, and I found her extremely compelling as the story went on - she'll do whatever she has to, but she has assumptions on her side. There's a bit where Duryea comes in after agreeing to help Scott with a nefarious plot and he's drunk as he gives her a bottle of (deadly) pills. He mentions when he got the bottle the guy who sold it said "you don't look like the kind of guy I usually sell yo." Then he asked the guy ,"do you mean I don't look like a killer?" The man responds thathe doesn't. But, Duyrea adds, he wonders if he would've said the same about her. Talk about ice cold. There are many insightful beats here and the subtext (or at times just text) is all about appearances. Was Dan Defore's Don a regular, concerned husband, or having some personal crisis that just happened to make him leave his car by the Oceanside and go off to Mexico (maybe, gosh, with another woman!) Or that Jane "Mrs Palmer" is telling the truth about things this or that and... Yeah. She is ice cold.But I found myself never hating or despising her. Maybe it's because there's a bit more dimension early on established, or that the plot of a bag of money brings out something different in this kind of story than if it was just another affair story or a Double Indemnity scenario. What would we do? There's that moment too where Duryea tells her the line that also serves as agline thats on the poster: "thats just to remind you youre in a tough racket now." She has no grand plan on this scenario, just to make sure the money doesnt go anywhere. This doesn't mean we shouldn't expect any punishment or comeuppance by the end - this is 40s Hayes era Hollywood after all. All the same I found Hawkins direction so assured (he knows how to use a camera to excellent effect), his painting of all the characters all necessary especially for the reveals and turns in the story, and at the heart of it is a woman who you may like or dislike, but she's got total agency and in the world of crime fiction that makes for a powerful vehicle to tell that.

clanciai Lizabeth Scott keeps you stuck on her throughout this film no matter what she is doing. What would you yourself do if a passing car suddenly passes a bag full of money into yours and vanishes? In this case Lizabeth Scott is together with her husband Arthur Kennedy, who is a completely decent fellow who immediately wants to give over the money to the police, while Lizabeth wants to keep it. There the trouble starts. It is increased by some bad luck on the way. Things don't always go as you planned. In this case, two strangers turn up, one more unpleasant to her than the other. And what's more, she commits mistakes and cause accidents to happen. Pity for such a beautiful woman. She remains equally fascinating though in every film she made, and they are usually dark noirs with her husky voice filling the atmosphere with ominous threats against everyone's existence. Throughout this film her acting is the consistent focus point of your fascination while the others in comparison don't seem to act at all, except Arthur Kennedy, who is always good and has a special knack for honest straight-forward roles. Her constant change, like a chameleon, from charming grace and smiles to solemn sinister brooding boding no good to anyone, from tears and despair to flippant gaiety, is a play in itself and indeed worth watching - in every film, like "The Racket", "Dark City" and "Dead Reckoning". She is almost like a Garbo of the dark.

Andrew Enriquez A marvel of attitudes and styles that now seem cheesy, yet so pithy and fun that you can't look away. Lizabeth Scott is the femme fatale embodied and Dan Duryea is great as the poor dupe who can't help but succumb to her siren call.This film features one of my favorite lines in classic cinema, uttered by Scott: "Well, housewives can get get awfully bored sometimes..."Has there ever been a more perfect example of the antihero lead than Dan Duryea in this film? You don't know whether to hate him for his impotent resistance to Lizabeth Scott's machinations or to offer to buy him a beer.

DKosty123 While this director is is more known for Arsenic & Old Lace. This film is a very good film noir. It just premiered on TCM in 2015 as a part of their dark summer. Noir series. Not a bad way to start. Don Defore is more known fro being the boss of Hazel on television and some other work on the Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet,This film presents a different side of Don quite well. It a hard serious dramatic role. At one point this was considered a lost film.The sets are drab much like many Republic films. It is low budget and though my favorite odd ball film from the studio is John Wayne' s odd ball western Dark Command, this one is a good drama.