An average noir film is made horrible through the use of narration that assumes the audience is stupid as a rock. Every single action the agents make, for the first half of the film, is narrated, explained, praised, and explained again for good measure. I mean they really, really hit you over the head with it. The agents don't just gather facts, the gather "facts to be used." They don't only take notes, they "memorize those notes." And on and on. This isn't radio: we can _see_ the agents going over the material! The jingoistic, condescending tone of the narration ruins what would otherwise be a fairly thrilling crime picture, with superb black and white filming and some graphic, spine-tingling scenes of violence.