It isn't just the poor quality of the available prints or the muffled sound that makes it difficult to hear important dialogue that gives this a low rating, but an hour of plotting the perfect crime where the two amoral lead characters (Douglas Fowley and Anne Gwyyne) pretty much do nothing but talk. Fowley, a ruthless newspaper reporter, convinces dying heiress Maris Wrixon to marry him, but secretly plots to kill her to inherit her money. She thinks she only has a year to live, but as time passes, it's obvious that she either got the wrong diagnosis or has completely recovered.
Certainly, the characters are sleazy enough to be interesting, but they really do very little outside of horrible acting with Gwynne constantly snarling to the point that you expect her face to freeze that way.
It isn't until detective Paul Kelly towards the end drops the bombshell that there's anything substantial. That is the only thing that saves us from being a bomb, and some people, like me, will say, "I waited patiently for an hour for this? Where was the cleverness before?" Even then, I knew that I had seen these twists before, and obviously in a much better film. It will take a lot of patience to make it through the end but if you are lucky enough to do so, you may choose to just say as well "bam, pow!"
Certainly, the characters are sleazy enough to be interesting, but they really do very little outside of horrible acting with Gwynne constantly snarling to the point that you expect her face to freeze that way.
It isn't until detective Paul Kelly towards the end drops the bombshell that there's anything substantial. That is the only thing that saves us from being a bomb, and some people, like me, will say, "I waited patiently for an hour for this? Where was the cleverness before?" Even then, I knew that I had seen these twists before, and obviously in a much better film. It will take a lot of patience to make it through the end but if you are lucky enough to do so, you may choose to just say as well "bam, pow!"
