I have loved this genre of film since way back in the day and this film and the 1946 Edgar Ulmer classic entitled "Detour" are two of the best ever made.
This was directed by Irving Berwick, the same man who brought us the 1959 head ripping "Monster Of Piedras Blancas". The story is about a young man named Ted Mathews (Jonathan Kidd) who, during a moment of passion with Terry James (Lyn Statten) while driving have a head on collision.
Ted wanders away from the wreck and sees the other driver dead and drifts into amnesia. He wanders into a man travelling the country named Rev. Noah Turnbull (Frank Arvidson). Flash forward a few years and Matthews is a very successful preacher named Tad Morgan.
One night while giving a sermon, he spots Terry in the crowd and suddenly his memory comes crashing back as to who he really is and what happened. This shatters Matthews, and Terry has some vicious plans of her own.
Terry is now married to an abusive drunk named Pete (John Harmon) and she decides to blackmail Matthews. To get her off of his back he writes her a check for 1000 dollars. However, Terry and Pete spend it like water and Terry steps up her game. She forces Matthews to marry her, and his life is in a very steep downward spiral.
Things get so bad Ted decides to kill Terry by pushing her off of a bridge. This bitch does not die easily and she comes back and attempts to shoot Ted but instead ends up killing Pete by mistake.
Needless to say it gets worse. I won't give it away, but my God what a film!! Statten is a beautiful woman and she plays the part of an evil female to perfection.
Kidd is also very, very good in his role as a sap who has gotten mixed up with the wrong woman. The cast is solid and the performances are all very good. This is included on the SWV DVD called "Weird Noir" and it probably the best one of the set of 6 films.
This gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me, and if you're a noir fan you shouldn't miss this one.
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