A fun but messy and convoluted film noir that features some of the most ridiculous twists and turns I've ever seen, and the more ridiculous it gets, the more fun it gets as it tries to talk its way out of those absurdities. To find out who killed her father, sweet Joyce MacKenzie goes undercover to become a cigarette girl femme fatale, going out with the killer (Stanley Clements) fully knowing who he is infiltrate the criminal gang he's involved in led by Hurd Hatfield and Albert Dekker. There's a hard nosed femme fatale played by Myrna Dell who isn't undercover, the real deal of what a film noir bad girl should be like. John Dehner is thrown into the confusing mix as another bad guy who comes in out of nowhere to the already mixed up plot, and his entrance into the story serves nothing but creating another foil for Hatfield who has committed murder to rise to the top of his racket.
The most interesting element of the story is between Clements and Dell, with the she-wolf manipulating the dumb hired killer to blackmail his boss, using him to get her hands on some much needed cash. It's obvious what that will spell for both of them in the end because you don't blackmail a mobster and live to tell about it. A good dark intense atmosphere aides the ridiculousness of the storyline, and for a while, I was fooled into thinking that this was much better than it turned out to be.
The most interesting element of the story is between Clements and Dell, with the she-wolf manipulating the dumb hired killer to blackmail his boss, using him to get her hands on some much needed cash. It's obvious what that will spell for both of them in the end because you don't blackmail a mobster and live to tell about it. A good dark intense atmosphere aides the ridiculousness of the storyline, and for a while, I was fooled into thinking that this was much better than it turned out to be.