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Storyline
One night on a lonely highway, a speeding car tosses a satchel of money, meant for somebody else, into Jane and Alan Palmer's back seat. Alan wants to turn it over to the police, but Jane, with luxury within her reach, persuades him to hang onto it "for a while." Soon, the Palmers are traced by one Danny Fuller, a sleazy character who claims the money is his. To hang onto it, Jane will need all the qualities of an ultimate femme fatale...and does she ever have them! Written by
Rod Crawford <[email protected]>
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Taglines:
That's just to remind you... you're in a tough racket now!
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Reissued in 1955 under the title "Killer Bait".
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Quotes
Alan Palmer:
How much have you spent?
Jane Palmer:
$790, less than one tenth of one percent of all our money.
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Connections
Featured in
To Face Her Past (1996)
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Too Late for Tears (1949)
This is an amazing movie. It's fast, dramatic, filled with great characters and odd twists, and is edited and filmed with great film noir energy. The fact that it's still only available in a terrible transfer from 16mm copies missing many frames is testament to how well it holds up in even the worst circumstances.
Key here is not only Lizabeth Scott as the key figure in nearly every scene, but her husband Van Heflin (an underrated actor if there ever was one). And then Dan Duryea, who plays the same kind of role in every film but it's a role with few equals.
Don't be fooled. This is pure low brow entertainment--or at least not high brow, the intentions being the usual crime related stuff like greed and deception. And murder. Scott is always a quirky actress, but she is her best here, and she gets better as the film goes on.
You also have to admire the basic plot, and the idea that we would all be tempted if a bag of money dropped in our laps, as it does here.
Now the problem is getting a DVD version that's actually watchable. The Film Noir Foundation is supposedly making a quality transfer from a recently found 35mm print, so we'll see (their web site is no help). This might be one movie to watch on a smaller t.v. so that quality doesn't bother you as much. Even so, it will work you over. Great stuff. I hate to admit I've probably seen this six or seven times, but that's how much it just grabs me and makes me sit every time it gets started.