This silly little tale, filled with fantastic coincidences to forward its plot, gets a bump up of a few stars for the sheer fun of seeing Bogey, Bacall, Morehead and host of colorful character actors lay it out in style. Morehead is particularly fun here, unctious and threatening in the early going, and then hammier than a Christmas dinner in her final outburst.
But what I find suspicious is the coincidence of two different people dying in accidental falls while in confrontations with Vincent. First, there's Baker going over the cliff under the bridge while struggling for the gun. Then, there's Madge somehow(?) crashing through the window just after stepping behind the curtain. I'm wondering if this whole thing is Vincent's twisted telling of events, where in actuality he murdered those people in a rage, but gets to feel moral uprightness by convincing himself, and the audience, they both died accidentally through their own fault. That fits conveniently with Warners wanting to be able to give Bogey and Bacall a happy ending within the strictures of the production code.
But what I find suspicious is the coincidence of two different people dying in accidental falls while in confrontations with Vincent. First, there's Baker going over the cliff under the bridge while struggling for the gun. Then, there's Madge somehow(?) crashing through the window just after stepping behind the curtain. I'm wondering if this whole thing is Vincent's twisted telling of events, where in actuality he murdered those people in a rage, but gets to feel moral uprightness by convincing himself, and the audience, they both died accidentally through their own fault. That fits conveniently with Warners wanting to be able to give Bogey and Bacall a happy ending within the strictures of the production code.