out the content of the coded letter. However, Murdock is able to escape from his captors when taking him back to his hotel; the police arrive. The flashback ends, and Murdock slips away. Now suspicious of Coral, he goes to her apartment to confront her. She claims to be innocent, but finally admits that she shot her husband in self-defence. She went to Martinelli for advice and gave him the murder weapon to dispose of, but he has been blackmailing her ever since. In love with her himself, Murdock agrees to leave town with her, but insists on retrieving the incriminating weapon first, despite Coral's objections. He threatens Martinelli with a gun, eliciting some startling revelations. The club owner reveals that Coral is his wife. He killed Chandler (having learned the man had lied about having only six months to live) and framed Drake so that Coral could inherit the estate. Murdock gets what he came for and forces Martinelli to precede him out of the building. As he opens the door, Martinelli is shot and killed. Murdock jumps into the waiting car and drives off with Coral. As they are speeding away, he accuses her of having just tried to kill him. When she shoots him, the car crashes. He survives, but she suffers fatal injuries. In the hospital, Murdock comforts her in her final moments. Cast Humphrey Bogart as Capt. Warren "Rip" Murdock Lizabeth Scott as Coral "Dusty"/"Mike" Chandler Morris Carnovsky as Martinelli Charles Cane as Lt. Kincaid William Prince as Sgt. Johnny Drake (John Joseph Preston) Marvin Miller as Krause Wallace Ford as McGee James Bell as Father Logan George Chandler as Bartender Louis Ord William Forrest as Lt. Col. Simpson (uncredited) Ruby Dandridge as Mabel (uncredited) Ray Teal as Motorcycle Cop (uncredited) Production Dead Reckoning was originally intended by Columbia Pictures' production chief Harry Cohn as a vehicle for Rita Hayworth, a follow-up to the extremely popular Gilda. Cohn thought that the pairing of Hayworth and Bogart would be a guaranteed money maker. However, Hayworth was in the middle of a contract dispute with Columbia, and refused to make the film, so she was replaced by Lizabeth Scott, who was borrowed from Paramount Pictures' producer Hal Wallis. Scott, an up-and-coming actress being promoted as "The Threat", was often compared to Bogart's wife, Lauren Bacall, as both were former models, and had deep, sultry voices. Bogart was