Title: A quintessential Forties film noir.
Review: Not the best known of grim film noirs of the Forties, but one of the best. Ella Raines is very impressive as a woman who risks all to prove her employer is innocent of the murder for which he has been convicted. Her assuming of false personas (which may even briefly fool the audience) make it surprising that her performance in this film is not better known. The purely visual sexual suggestiveness in the jazz joint scene with Elisha Cook is hot stuff, and you will be amazed that Hollywood could have gotten away with it in the Forties. The excellent photography (black & white, of course) captures that grim urban atmosphere perfectly. Anyone who tries to colorize this film should be punished! The climactic revelation is highly suspenseful, and the happy ending is quite atypical of such films. Don't miss this one.
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