Amazon.com video review:
A faceless figure marches down an endless hallway as dark, driving
music underscores his doom. It's stocky, stalwart Edmond O'Brien, who
plows through the police detective's office like he's got nothing to lose.
"I want to report a murder," he demands, grim and sleepy-eyed. Who was
killed? "I was." It's a brilliant opening to a memorable film noir
classic.
O'Brien is a CPA who flees his dull job and small California town for a
wild weekend in San Francisco, only to be poisoned and doomed to certain
death. With only days to live, his incredulity morphs into a searing drive
to find his killers and stinging regrets for what might have been. O'Brien
is
a familiar noir face, but he usually plays figures of authority: a
cop in White Heat; an investigator in The Killers. He's a
little stiff here, but his blunt, unglamorous persona is perfect for the
Everyman who is randomly visited by death. Rudolph Maté, a
cinematographer
turned director, moves from sun-bright day scenes to busy
nighttime locations with few visual flourishes, but when he takes the
camera into the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco the film is
energized with a gritty, restless vigor. It's one of the most relentlessly
dark films
noir ever made--taut, edgy, and low budget. Watch for the Bradbury
building in the film's climax, made famous by its memorable use decades
later in the sci-fi noir classic Blade Runner. --Sean
Axmaker
