Solid, well written film with fine performances and a menacing, breakthrough acting job by Humphrey Bogart. Set in a desolate, desert cafe in a desolate Arizona town, Bogart and his murderous, violent band of criminals hold up and hold hostage, a various assortment of people. There is an intellectual(Leslie Howard), a waitress with big aspirations(Bette Davis), a jock(Dick Foran), a vigilante(Porter Hall) and a rich, squabbling couple(Paul Harvey and Genevieve Tobin) among others. The action is limited as this is basically a filmed stage play, but the dialog crackles and is crisply delivered by the actors. Director Archie Mayo does a fine job in the film noir style creating dark, shadowy and sombre moments. He also does a great job wringing out the atmosphere as the viewer can really get the feeling that they are in this desolate cafe in the middle of nowhere with a howling wind and blowing sagebrush. The performance by Bogart is astonishing. Unshaven, menacing and brooding. He may have been the screens first truly mean and scary gangster. A fine film.