From the time she made her first appearance on screen, Janis Paige's vitality and lovable personality made her a scene-stealer. Whether it was as Dane Clark's sweetheart in "Hollywood Canteen" (re-teamed in this film) or as the outrageous Aunt Viv on "Eight is Enough" 30 something years later, Paige grew from a bubbly young starlet into an Auntie Mame type that never turned her into a camp shadow of her former years. Even into the mid 1990's (as the matriarch on daytime's "Santa Barbara"), she could steal scenes from even the best of talents. In this mid 40's crime drama from Warner Brothers (with a little bit of Film Noir thrown in), Paige has one of her few leading roles as a nightclub singer torn between two men. She is slinky enough to be a bit dangerous, but never a femme fatale a la Lizabeth Scott or Jane Greer. She also gets to sing a few songs, but other than the first bar of her first song, it appears (like fellow "Mame" Angela Lansbury, then at MGM) that she was dubbed.
Here, Paige is involved with two men: Columnist Dane Clark and gangster Zachary Scott. The film has a weak script with some ridiculously stupid actions by the gangster who seems bright on the surface but really isn't. There are some nice little plot twists towards the end, and the finale scene is so well written it actually seems out of step with the rest of the script. During that sequence, there are some great camera shots that are truly metaphoric towards the action going on. Faye Emerson, a leading lady of "B" Warners films in the early part of the 40's, is wasted in a thankless role.
Here, Paige is involved with two men: Columnist Dane Clark and gangster Zachary Scott. The film has a weak script with some ridiculously stupid actions by the gangster who seems bright on the surface but really isn't. There are some nice little plot twists towards the end, and the finale scene is so well written it actually seems out of step with the rest of the script. During that sequence, there are some great camera shots that are truly metaphoric towards the action going on. Faye Emerson, a leading lady of "B" Warners films in the early part of the 40's, is wasted in a thankless role.