Lousy. Before turning to low-wattage/high-gimmick chillers (MACABRE/’58 was the first), directorially challenged William Castle made a last pair of dreary programmers @ Columbia: URANIUM BOOM/’56 (which we bailed on) and this hard to follow oil drilling con-man thriller. Gene Barry, taking over as lead when Lee J. Cobb fell ill, never convinces as the oil man who bribes foremen in the field to steal crude for sale on the open market, switching delivery systems from trucks to pipes with help from mob man Edward Arnold. But the plan collapses in a power struggle and Barry has to flee the country with his girl. Only problem, he’s got two! Blonde nightclub chanteusie Barbara Hale (uncomfortably platinum’d) and sympathetic hash-slinger Jeanne Cooper. Alas, the girls’ delayed confrontation goes for little, like everything else in here, when a bit of film noir swagger might have covered much of what’s missing.
DOUBLE-BILL: Presumably meant to follow-up Castle’s slightly better 1955 release, NEW ORLEANS UNCENSORED. (see below)
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