Andre de Toth's most interesting films reveal an understanding of the instability and outright treachery of human relationships. --Andrew Sarris
de Toth's film is a very unusual film noir, exposing the dark side of "the American dream" (an absurd term that should be abolished as soon as possible, by the way). John Forbes (Dick Powell) fantasizes about chucking his dreary insurance job and heading for the South Seas but his wife Sue (Jane Wyatt) will have none of it, since John has a solid job and they have a young son, Johnny (Tommy Forbes). So restless John falls for Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott) when he visits her to find out what gifts were given to her by thief Bill Smiley (Byron Barr), who was bonded by Forbes's company; Mona gives John an exciting ride on the speedboat that she doesn't want to give up. Meanwhile the sleazy private dick J.B. MacDonald (a terrific Raymond Burr), who had investigated Mona for Forbes, is also smitten by her. J.B. beats up Forbes in Forbes's own driveway and it is only when Mona goes to visit Forbes does she find out he is married.
Things go downhill from there, as MacDonald gives Smiley (after he gets out of jail) a gun to go after Forbes while J.B. nicely does the packing for Mona so they can flee Los Angeles; Forbes shoots and kills Smiley while Mona kills MacDonald. Mona goes to jail and Forbes goes back to Sue who agrees to "try again" in an ambiguous ending after two people are killed and one goes to jail because of Forbes's mistake. de Toth and cinematographer Harry Wild capture the routine dreariness that Forbes feels as his affair with Mona is limited to afternoons in dark Los Angeles bars until he has to hide in his own house when it's attacked by Smiley. Mona is an unusually sympathetic femme fatale who had become involved with Forbes without knowing he was married and had only become involved with Smiley because, as she says "he was the only man who was nice to me; very few are."
Forbes feels and the furtivenss
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