Dire! This hard-boiled crime melodrama is about contract killing and it traces, rather naively I thought, the genesis of the whole enterprise and is said to be based on fact. It's distinguished slightly by the use of flashbacks within flashbacks and by some fine, moody cinematography by Robert Burks but, with the exception of Bogart, (and even he is playing well below par), it is appallingly acted. Still, sometimes a bad performance can be even more memorable than a good one and in this respect Ted De Corsia's 'Squealer' ends up stealing the film. On the other hand, both Zero Mostel and Everett Sloane probably reach a career nadir here. As for the direction of Bretaigne Windust, it's perfunctory at best. Inhabiting a vacuum somewhere between "The House on 42nd Street" and "The Phenix City Story", the film is neither fish nor fowl, (it's mostly foul). Missed opportunities all round.