The murder of a beautiful blonde woman in her apartment brings in the police and investigators Det. Lt. Daniel Muldoon (Berry Fitzgerald) and Jim Halloran (Don Taylor).
They soon find a huge list of shady characters who knew the dead woman and who are connected in a string of jewelry robberies. There are many twists and turns in this excellent film shot entirely in the city of New York using actual locations and no sets.
Howard Duff is a prime suspect named Frank Niles who turns out to be a liar in more ways than a person can imagine. it is thru him that we discover much about the suspect and the victim.
The police finally learn the suspect is named Willie Garza (Ted De Corsia) a former wrestler and soon the chase is on, in a very exciting climax.
There are none of the usual conventions of film noir in this movie as it was filmed at actual locations and uses plenty of lighting, but it still falls into the noir category. The cast is exemplary and flawless. It includes Dorothy Hart, Grover Burgess and House Jameson.
it's interesting to note that producer Mark Hellinger is also the narrator and there are no credits on screen, Hellinger speaks them all. Very odd indeed.
The Criterion DVD is excellent and I can't recommend this film enough to any crime film fan.
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