at least for the Fifties. Tense story, lots of killings, terrified witnesses, ruthless thugs. Ted de Corsia impresses as the second-in-command gangster who mutates from a steel-nerved tough into a panicking coward when things go wrong. Bogart plays what by now has become a familiar character of his, the crusading lawyer, this time as a DA trying to break a murder-for-hire ring.
It does have its flaws, however. Is it really possible that in 1951 the police didn't know what a "contract" or a "hit" was? And most of the secondary characters are basically cardboard cutouts. The climax comes too late, literally ten seconds before the ending. But the black-and-white cinematography, the shadows and the mist, the wanton spilling of blood just out of camera range, make this an effective movie nonetheless, at least visually. Worth a look.
It does have its flaws, however. Is it really possible that in 1951 the police didn't know what a "contract" or a "hit" was? And most of the secondary characters are basically cardboard cutouts. The climax comes too late, literally ten seconds before the ending. But the black-and-white cinematography, the shadows and the mist, the wanton spilling of blood just out of camera range, make this an effective movie nonetheless, at least visually. Worth a look.