Deceit and greed rule the night in this clever noir. We literally jump right in to this plot, as a body falls out the window of a burning apartment. It's a morgue stiff, an imposter for Sam, who plans to score $50k from his life insurance policy. He'll disappear to the East coast while his wife Edna stays in L. A. to collect.
But Edna is actually in love with Ray; so they're gonna cash in. After all, Sam is officially dead. Things get more complex as Sam's son Tom, unwilling to believe that the fall was an accident, hires a dapper private detective. That Clifton Webb-esque character wants in on the money as well.
He sets about hustling and blackmailing whoever he can. Meanwhile, Sam, intentionally kept out of the loop by Edna, shows up. When he finds out about Ray, he kills him. After some further conniving, Edna kills Sam, but herself falls to her death.
This all happens in a little over an hour; the tension and passion keep building, offset to some extent by well-placed verbal barbs from the enjoyable detective. It's like having Vincent Price give a decorous but macabre commentary to remind us that we're not playing at cops-and-robbers.
The only disappointment might be that the ending is a bit too neat; Edna dying in the same way as the fake death that started this trail of crime seems reaches for a level of mythology. Otherwise, this is one worth staying up for. Very entertaining.
But Edna is actually in love with Ray; so they're gonna cash in. After all, Sam is officially dead. Things get more complex as Sam's son Tom, unwilling to believe that the fall was an accident, hires a dapper private detective. That Clifton Webb-esque character wants in on the money as well.
He sets about hustling and blackmailing whoever he can. Meanwhile, Sam, intentionally kept out of the loop by Edna, shows up. When he finds out about Ray, he kills him. After some further conniving, Edna kills Sam, but herself falls to her death.
This all happens in a little over an hour; the tension and passion keep building, offset to some extent by well-placed verbal barbs from the enjoyable detective. It's like having Vincent Price give a decorous but macabre commentary to remind us that we're not playing at cops-and-robbers.
The only disappointment might be that the ending is a bit too neat; Edna dying in the same way as the fake death that started this trail of crime seems reaches for a level of mythology. Otherwise, this is one worth staying up for. Very entertaining.