Customer Reviews
Classic Film Noir - By: Robert Gallacher, 30 Jun 2006 
Joe Sullivan ( Dennis O'Keefe ), with the help of his girlfriend Pat ( Claire Trevor ) breaks out of jail to collect $ 50 , 000 owed to him by gang boss Ricky Coyle ( Raymond Burr ) . Ricky's also the guy who helped put Joe behind bars to save his own skin. A twist on the usual escaped convict on the run film, is that he is accompanied by, not one, but two beautiful women ; one good ( Marsha Hunt ), one bad ( Claire Trevor ). This love triangle shapes his battling conscience ; O'Keefe gives the impression that he is more in love with Hunt's character but cannot contemplate handing himself over to the authorities ( as she would like ) & so sticks with his moll.
The brilliant direction & beautiful John Alton cinematography lifts this neat little film noir above the normal crime thriller. Superbly directed by Anthony Mann, each scene has been intelligently & meticulously planned & framed. There are so many memorable scenes which deserve repeated viewings. The highly atmospheric woodland scene is particularly effective, with the early morning misty light streaming through the trees beautifully.
At first I felt that perhaps Raymond Burr was under-used in his role as the sleazy, sadistic, pyromaniac gangster who has helped in O'Keefe's escape , ( in the hope that he is killed by either the prison guards or the state police before reaching him to claim the money he is owed ). I have now come to the conclusion that Burr's limited time on screen adds to his menacing bulk , his massive frame filling each scene with a claustrophobic brooding evil threat.
This movie is violent, brutal & depressing ; the overalll oppressive gloom is made even eerier by Claire Trevor's spacey narration & the haunting sound of the theremin.
A word of warning though, if you do buy this DVD please do not read the blurb on the back cover, as it is basicallly a blow-by-blow account of the whole story, including the ending !
