While he's away on business, a man begins to suspect his wife of infidelity. Upon discovering that she does indeed have a lover, he develops a cunning murder plot. On the night in question things threaten to go awry, when a second lover turns up - but you know what they say, every challenge represents an opportunity...
Quite a decent, suspenseful noir, based on a play. The dark-hearted intrigue is clever and well-plotted, although not every development is equally plausible.
Anyway, the movie deserves to go down in "noir" history for containing one of the single most disquieting scenes ever filmed. A married woman is told, by the police, that her lover has killed himself, presumably out of love for her. Her face lights up with pleasure - whoo ! a man killed himself for me ! - until she realizes a) that she is being observed and b) that she is supposed to show sadness over the passing of another human being. As a result she re-arranges her features into a more becoming expression of sadness. It is hard to think of a more accurate (or more concise) portrayal of an immoral egotist with a liking for strong sensations.
The role of the said egotist is ably performed by Greta Gynt, a very beautiful woman. Still, her various hairdos don't do her justice - which, I hasten to add, is caused not by the fault of the individual hairdresser(s) who arranged her locks, but by contemporary hair fashions. I was surprised to discover that her hairdos reminded me of hairdos seen on Roman statues dating back 2000 years or so. A person with more brains than me should write a study about it.
Quite a decent, suspenseful noir, based on a play. The dark-hearted intrigue is clever and well-plotted, although not every development is equally plausible.
Anyway, the movie deserves to go down in "noir" history for containing one of the single most disquieting scenes ever filmed. A married woman is told, by the police, that her lover has killed himself, presumably out of love for her. Her face lights up with pleasure - whoo ! a man killed himself for me ! - until she realizes a) that she is being observed and b) that she is supposed to show sadness over the passing of another human being. As a result she re-arranges her features into a more becoming expression of sadness. It is hard to think of a more accurate (or more concise) portrayal of an immoral egotist with a liking for strong sensations.
The role of the said egotist is ably performed by Greta Gynt, a very beautiful woman. Still, her various hairdos don't do her justice - which, I hasten to add, is caused not by the fault of the individual hairdresser(s) who arranged her locks, but by contemporary hair fashions. I was surprised to discover that her hairdos reminded me of hairdos seen on Roman statues dating back 2000 years or so. A person with more brains than me should write a study about it.