Jack Arnold have always amazed me except in his last films, in the seventies, when he lost all ambitions and maybe also talent. But in the fifties, he is one of my favourites, besides Nathan Juran, his alter ego for me. Both worked mainly for Universal Pictures, though Juran was alsio hired by Columbia Pictures, and both were pretty good professionals in any domain: science fiction, western, crime.....Their films have great charm, and in this one, I was a bit stressed before seeing it, because it is a thriller drama, not really crime, but shot in the western more: small desert area town, a man arriving - a lawyer instead of a sheriff ( Jeff Chandler) but that where the comparison stops. It becoms a court drama and so on. Some scenes may be seen as some kind of tribute to other Jack Arnold's films: a beautiful lady dives into a swimming pool and swims underwater - CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - and Jeff Chandleer shown driving in the desert - TARANTULA and if my memory doesn't fail IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE. This drama is full of the fifties charm and Universal Studios always gave me this feeling.
Review of The Tattered Dress
