Saw this film for the first time last night. Nice little noir, and I genuinely liked the character played by Vincent Price. I mean I actually liked the guy, and I'm usually someone who goes for the good guys.
Good performances all around, actually. Ella Raines was effective as the femme anti-fatale, William Bendix was great in a performance that reminded me of the work James Gandolfini would be doing 50-60 years later, and Edmond O'Brien was always a solid noir lead, without ever truly setting the world on fire.
Two things bothered me. One was the ending, with the gambit about the dead body. It just didn't quite work for me.
The other was the trick of using the friend to impersonate the late Victor Bruno and then simply assuming Colby wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't him. I understand it was different times, but it did seem to have a racist and xenophobic quality to it, relying as it did on the basic conceit that all 'foreigners' sound the same. The idea of getting anyone with any accent to impersonate a 'foreigner' - who you never heard speak and haven't the faintest idea what his voice sounded like - , and then just assuming the baddie won't be able to tell the difference, well, stupid writing, stupid characters, maybe hoping for a stupid audience, or maybe all three.
But in all, a cool little movie, certainly a bit far-fetched, but nice atmosphere, brisk pace, and wonderful performances.
Good performances all around, actually. Ella Raines was effective as the femme anti-fatale, William Bendix was great in a performance that reminded me of the work James Gandolfini would be doing 50-60 years later, and Edmond O'Brien was always a solid noir lead, without ever truly setting the world on fire.
Two things bothered me. One was the ending, with the gambit about the dead body. It just didn't quite work for me.
The other was the trick of using the friend to impersonate the late Victor Bruno and then simply assuming Colby wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't him. I understand it was different times, but it did seem to have a racist and xenophobic quality to it, relying as it did on the basic conceit that all 'foreigners' sound the same. The idea of getting anyone with any accent to impersonate a 'foreigner' - who you never heard speak and haven't the faintest idea what his voice sounded like - , and then just assuming the baddie won't be able to tell the difference, well, stupid writing, stupid characters, maybe hoping for a stupid audience, or maybe all three.
But in all, a cool little movie, certainly a bit far-fetched, but nice atmosphere, brisk pace, and wonderful performances.