Cinematographer Russell Harlan gives this modest film noir the requisite dark, glistening look, but can’t raise it much past mediocre. A decent setup finds senior police detective Lee J. Cobb covering up a murder when his mistress (rich heiress Jane Wyatt) shoots her husband, only to see his new detective partner, kid brother John Dall, methodically home in on the guilty parties. Yikes! Felix E. Feist moves things along nicely, tossing in a fair share of striking angles, but neither the plotting or dialogue really snaps together. Worse, all three leads are strikingly miscast. Dall supercilious in a role William Holden might have played. Cobb too dour to be blindsided by romantic passion. (How ‘bout Paul Douglas?) And wholesome Jane Wyatt missing the siren call & glamorous danger a Rita Hayworth might have brought to it. Casting against type is one thing; Playing against type another; Doing both at the same time . . . tricky.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Phil Karlson’s superb SCANDAL SHEET/’52, from Sam Fuller’s novel, has John Derek & Broderick Crawford as newspaper guys (in the Dall/Cobb spots) on a similar storyline. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/04/scandal-sheet-1952.html
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