One of Fritz Lang's lesser efforts this film is weighed down by a flat screenplay that gives the darkly great Richard Conte and the wonderfully sassy Ann Sothern not much to work with and a way too over the top performance by Anne Baxter that sounds as if Lang told her, "Whatever you did in "Eve", do the opposite". It does, however, feature properly moody cinematography by Nicholas Musuraka and one genuinely indelible scene, the one in the Great Early 50s Tiki Lounge with Baxter and Raymond Burr getting sloshed on tropical rum concoctions while the aging, Russian cigarette gal circulates and Nat King Cole, nattily attired (as usual,) with lay around necktie, croons the title song. Now that's noir! Give it a C plus.
PS...Appropriate that I saw this date rape flic on the day Cosby got sprung on a technicality.
PS...Appropriate that I saw this date rape flic on the day Cosby got sprung on a technicality.