An insurance man wishing for a more exciting life becomes wrapped up in the affairs of an imprisoned embezzler, his model girlfriend, and a violent private investigator.
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Reviews
CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
So, first there’s insurance man “Forbes” (Dick Powell) who occasionally hires private investigator “Mac” (Raymond Burr) when he needs some prying done. It’s this latter fellow who discovers that “Mona” (Lizabeth Scott) has received a load of gifts from her now incarcerated boyfriend “Bill” (Byron Barr) and so he sets off to reclaim their property. When he arrives, though, he takes quite a shine to “Mona” and despite being happily, if maybe a bit stagnantly, married to “Sue” (Jane Wyatt) they begin to have a bit of a dalliance. This is all to the chagrin of the envious PI, who is also a bit keen on her and, of course, to the locked up boyfriend who is a bit narked that he did all of this for a woman who will jump ship quite so readily whilst he is behind bars. Next thing, relationships become strained and tempers flare to the point that it’s only going to be a matter of time before there’s a body! But when and whose will it be? This is quite a well crafted crime thriller that manages to keep the story interesting for ninety minutes of crossing and double crossing all whilst presented with a bunch of characters that it’s really quite easy not to like! Scott always makes me think of Lauren Bacall, only without the glint - but she acquits herself quite well here as her character has plenty of meat on it’s bones for a change. Burr also delivers quite well as the odious snoop and there’s enough intricacy in the plot to sustain it, almost, until the end. There, well I felt the wheels came off a little as that was maybe just a little too damp a squib. Still, it’s very much at the better end of the genre and might make you think twice before you file that harmless insurance claim!
