- Insurance detective Steve Hastings is sent by his company to investigate the disappearance of a fellow agent. His first lead is the agent's fetching sister, Victoria, whom he trails to Mexico City. After charming his way into her confidence, Steve helps Vicki unravel the mystery.—Chris Stone <jstone@bellatlantic.net>
- As the credits roll, exteriors of Mexico City are shown. Inside the Versailles Club in Mexico City, a hand is opening a wall safe. The man removes a jeweled necklace before the lights come on, and the man flees in fear. The man is wearing a wait staff uniform with the name Glenn. As Glenn (Walter Reed) flees, the person who turned on the light shots hits him. Glenn gets away on the dark streets. The gun is fired a few more times directly towards the screen.
In Los Angles at Central Trust Insurance Company's office, insurance investigator Steve Hastings (William Lundigan) is being briefed about the necklace. Glenn is or was an agent for the insurance company sent to investigate the original theft.
Hastings is sent to investigate a woman that suddenly decided to travel to Mexico and is somehow involved with the case.
Victoria Ames (Jacqueline White) checks in at the airport. Hastings is there waiting. He talks to Victoria and pretends he knows her. She does not fall for his come on. After being rebuffed, he forces her to let him carry her portfolio. He loses all of her music on the flight line. He sits next to her on the flight, and she does everything she can do to put this masher off.
While Victoria sleeps on the plane, Hastings pulls a telegram out of her purse from Glenn, directing her where to go in Mexico City. When she wakes, Hastings continues to push, saying he will show her all of the sights. Victoria is pretty firm on her no. In conversation, Victoria says she is flying down to meet her brother, who she says is a tough truck driver.
On the ground in Mexico, Hastings continues to push. She kisses him and says he can claim success. Swigart (José Torvay) is watching them arrive. Since her brother is not there and tries to get away from Hastings, she takes a taxi offered by a man who says he doesn't speak English.
Swigart arrives and helps Victoria by telling the taxi driver to take her where she wants to go, keep pretending not to speak English, and leave her at the destination even if she asks him to wait. The interspersing of English and Spanish is the beauty of this bi-lingual film. I would venture to say that most Americans in 1948 could not follow the Spanish, which is used to withhold information from Victoria and later Hastings.
Swigart tells Hastings that Victoria was going to the hotel. Hastings is swooped up by a taxi driver named Carlos (Tony Barrett). Carlos speaks perfect English and says he is from Texas. Hastings hires him for a week or so.
Victoria is left at #5 Del Carmen. She asks the driver to wait, but he leaves her there alone. The patio door is open, and Victoria goes inside. She enters the very dark house asking for Glenn. Victoria hears footsteps, and she picks up a fireplace iron. The man making the noise is Hastings. He tells her that the man from the airport gave him the address.
Victoria and Hastings decide to split up and search different rooms. Two men jump on Hastings and start beating him down. When Victoria screams, the men run out. Carlos charges out of his taxi, holding a gun. He says something in Spanish I can't get and fires at the fleeing men.
Hastings is okay, and before long, a cop comes. The cop finds Carlos's gun and says that there have been many burglaries in the area. Hastings translates this, saying the cop said Victoria looks like a burglar. The police chief agrees to help Hastings because he is a private detective. In the conversation, it is revealed that Victoria is Glenn's sister. Carlos hears all of the details.
Hastings says he told the police, the fight was a lover's spat between Victoria and him. He said he did it to protect her brother. She warms up to him a bit. They go back to the hotel and get Victoria a room. They make plans for dinner in an hour. Victoria finds out that Hastings has gotten them adjoining rooms.
Hastings leaves the hotel and goes to the telegraph office. He finds out that the message Victoria received from her brother came from the Versailles Club by messenger. Hastings calls Victoria to let her know he will be late, but there is no answer from her room.
Hastings rushes back to the hotel and confirms Victoria is not there. Carlos drives Hastings to the Versailles Club. In the club, Hastings is shocked to see that Victoria is working as the nightclub singer. Hastings asks one of the bartenders, Benny, about Glenn Ames, and Benny becomes very cagey. When the maître d' arrives, Benny is so scared he drops a glass. Hastings is asked to join the club owner John Norcross (Ricardo Cortez), his friend Dolores Fernandez (Jacqueline Dalya), and Victoria at Norcross' table.
Dolores was the singer before Victoria, and Dolores is not too happy. Hastings is curious how Norcross found out so quickly that Victoria was in town. Dolores and Hastings go dancing. Victoria tells Norcross that she doesn't know Hastings very well. Dolores invites Hastings to a party, and Norcross has also invited Victoria.
Hastings goes back to the club and takes Carlos inside with him. Hastings asks about Benny and is told that he is off and will be off the next day also.
The next day Hastings and Carlos go to Benny's house. Carlos doesn't translate correctly. After some roundabout, a young girl translates. She says Benny has gone to his boss' place to work at a party. Hastings rents a car for him and Victoria to go to the party. On the drive, Victoria tells that her brother is really an insurance investigator. Victoria and Hastings start cozying up to each other.
They arrive at the site of a car crash. They pass with little thought. When they get to the party, most of the people are watching a Fronton match, which is a popular version of Jai Alai. Dolores is happy to see Hastings. Dolores says she is bartending today because Benny was killed in the car they drove by. Norcross takes Victoria away. Dolores is jealous of the attention Victoria is getting from Norcross, although she says they are not in a relationship.
The police are talking to the chauffeur about the accident, and it is Swigart. Swigart said he saw the accident, but Hastings can get any real information out of him.
Hastings joins Dolores for drinks. They kiss and busted by Victoria. She leaves mad. Dolores says Norcross is dangerous, and people keep dying around him.
Victoria jumps in the car, and Hastings runs to get in with her. It's a rough drive back to Mexico City. Hastings shows his badge to Victoria back at the hotel and says he works for the same company as her brother and is trying to find him. Hastings gets a slap.
Carlos shows up, and Hastings says he is going to see the police commandant. Carlos calls Norcross and tells what is going on. So, Carlos is a bad guy, and all this time, I thought he was a cop.
A small Mexican boy shows up at the hotel and says that he needs to see Victoria. Carlos overhears the conversation. The hotel doorman sends the kid away. Carlos tries to get the message from the boy. The boy holds firm that he must talk to Victoria.
Carlos takes the boy to Victoria. He says he saw a picture of Victoria in someone's purse. The boy has Glenn's jacket and says a fair bit in Spanish, which Carlos translates as they found your wounded brother in a field.
The boy says Victoria should go with him to the police. Carlos says the boy's family does not want to become involved with the police. Carlos tricks Victoria into not leaving a message for Hastings.
Hastings briefs the police commandant on everything he knows. The police put a man at the hotel to watch for Victoria, who Hastings now believes is innocent.
They go to a farm where Glenn is staying with the family. Before they arrive, Glenn does something to a woven doll. Victoria asks about a doctor. The farmer says that a doctor is very far away down the road. Carlos translates this as the doctor is nearby, and he volunteers to go get him.
Carlos goes to a telephone and calls Norcross. Norcross is meeting with Hastings at the time Norcross gets the call. Hastings ducks into another office where he can listen on the call. A man comes in behind him and knocks him out.
When Hastings awakes, he is at the farm. Swigart is beating Glenn, and Carlos is holding Victoria. The Mexican family is standing against the wall in terror. Hastings jumps to help Victoria but is knocked down again, but this time it is by Norcross.
Hastings has figured out that Norcross is behind all of the crime. Glenn shows where the jewels are hidden using his eyes. Norcross kicks the doll to the little girl, and she chews him out.
Hastings starts spinning a yarn to stop the beating of Glenn. Hastings tells them that the jewels are in Glenn's jacket in the hotel. Carlos leaves to get the jacket.
After some time, the little girl tells her mother she wants water. She drops her doll, and Swigart picks it up. She bravely takes the doll from the criminal and has her mother give the doll a drink. Carlos arrives with the jacket, and there is nothing in it. The little girl pulls the head off the doll and finds the necklace.
Norcross takes the necklace from the girl. He waved for his henchmen to murder all of the witnesses. The Mexican policeman that was watching the hotel opens the door. Norcross fires at him, and the cop guns him down. The Mexican father jumps on Swigart while Hastings knocks Carlos down. Victoria faints.
Later Victoria and Hastings are discussing marriage while sitting in a terraced restaurant. Glenn comes in and says he has an assignment from the agency for either him or Hastings. When Victoria finds that the case involves Dolores, she makes Glenn take it. Victoria decides to marry Hastings. The two men talk, and it was a stunt created to make Victoria jealous so she would marry Hastings.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content