An interesting mixture of film Noir and religious drama come together in a surprising package that left me completely surprised. Cleo Moore, one of the great blonde bombshell's of the 1950s, has dark hair here, obviously a metaphor to represent the darkness in her soul. She's an apparent prostitute who has just attempted suicide and is chosen out of the blue to visit death row inmate John Agar who is about to be hung for a series of strangling deaths of young women. At first, Moore and Agar do not see eye-to-eye and the awkwardness between them creates much tension. He becomes angry when she tries to analyze him, declaring that he never cries. Indeed, he does not, and with the clock ticking towards the time for him to be escorted to the gallows, their attitudes towards each other change. a car begins to reveal more about his inner self, and this brings more out of her shell as well. As the title theme song plays on the radio, they begin to dance and it becomes a very apparent that love has grown between this troubled couple who have only been brought together by the most bizarre of circumstances. It's through the writing of producer/director Hugo Haas that this takes on a unique perspective in an impossible situation.
While this film has definite implausibilities, as the two characters begin to reveal who they are underneath the surface, you can't help but begin to like them, even though he is a brutal killer and she is a troubled woman of the street. This shows that even the darkest of souls can have some sort of light once love comes into the picture, and the way the script presents the two of them together, it is not impossible to imagine this happening in a situation like this even though the circumstances are seemingly absurd. The two actors do an excellent job in making their characters flesh out, and because of that, it is easier to forgive the script for some of its ridiculous situations and some of the psychological babbling that occurs between the two as they argue and try to point out things that they see in each other. While the ending is obvious, there is a bit of Hope with what happens within the last 10 minutes that these seemingly dark souls will find light somewhere in the next World or in their continuing world on the planet that they reside in.
While this film has definite implausibilities, as the two characters begin to reveal who they are underneath the surface, you can't help but begin to like them, even though he is a brutal killer and she is a troubled woman of the street. This shows that even the darkest of souls can have some sort of light once love comes into the picture, and the way the script presents the two of them together, it is not impossible to imagine this happening in a situation like this even though the circumstances are seemingly absurd. The two actors do an excellent job in making their characters flesh out, and because of that, it is easier to forgive the script for some of its ridiculous situations and some of the psychological babbling that occurs between the two as they argue and try to point out things that they see in each other. While the ending is obvious, there is a bit of Hope with what happens within the last 10 minutes that these seemingly dark souls will find light somewhere in the next World or in their continuing world on the planet that they reside in.