Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An early work directed by Anthony Mann ("Raw Deal")
that leaves a bad impression, giving few clues to his
future greatness. After sitting through a ridiculous
tale that is filled with plot holes as large as
California, a contrived happy ending is suddenly
thrown in without being earned. This oddity cheapie
film, making its way in the world of noir, was flatly
photographed and the screenplay lacked polish.
Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) is a dedicated
research scientist at the Mindret Wilmott Chemical
Institute in New York, where she's occupied with her
breakthrough experiment for a new anesthetic and also
looking forward to marrying her scientist colleague,
Dr. Stephan Lindstrom (William Gargan), upon the
experiment's conclusion. While backing out of a
garage, Nora accidentally knocks down a drunk woman,
Jane Karaski (Ruth Ford), who mistakenly walked in her
path. The woman is only mildly shaken, but
ambulance-chasing attorney J. W. Rinse suddenly
appears and gives Jane his card and urges her to sue.
Nora drives the woman home and gives her $25, quite
sure everything is okay. That night Stephan comes over
to Jane's apartment and proposes marriage for tomorrow
because the institute is transferring him to their
Paris office immediately. Nora says she can't marry
him until the experiment is completed. Stephan tells
her to think it over and leaves when Nora's beautiful
lab assistant Arline Cole (Hillary Brooke) enters,
she's here to assist an unauthorized experiment at
home as the anxious Nora forgoes clinical tests to
test the formula out on herself. While asleep, the
formula was tinkered with by Arline and it explodes
just as Stephan returns to pick up his briefcase he
accidentally left behind. Stephan puts out the flames,
but Nora is taken to the hospital and suffers from
severe burns to her face--leaving her disfigured.
Arline then uses the opportunity to come between the
couple and schemes to get Stephan to fall for her, as
she has the hospital prevent Stephan from visiting her
and bad mouths Stephan for deserting her because she's
no longer pretty. Nora leaves the hospital and is
confronted at gunpoint by a crazed Jane, who tells her
that the lawyer said the suit is worth $25,000 and
demands that money. When Nora says she doesn't have
that kind of money, Jane steals her engagement ring
and wallet but Nora tussles with her and in the
struggle Jane falls to her death off the penthouse
balcony. The dead woman is identified as Nora, so the
real Nora decides to go to Los Angeles for plastic
surgery and assume Jane's identity. After a year in
the hospital, Jane reads in the newspapers that Arline
married Stephan. She returns to New York unrecognized,
where she gets hired by Stephan to be his research
assistant by coming off as Nora's best friend since
they studied chemistry together at the University of
Vermont. Nora soon learns that Arline caused her
disfigurement and acts to win Stephan back. The two
are planning to go to Paris together without Arline,
when Nora's arrested at the airport for the murder of
Nora, as the shyster lawyer points her out to the
police so he could collect the reward. The nightmare
story ends in the police station with a bogus surprise
ending that left me feeling used.
REVIEWED ON
4/23/2005
GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
SCHWARTZ