George Stroud (Ray Milland) is the editor of the Crime Ways Magazine owned the bossy chief Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton) . Later on, Stroud is forced to miss a vacation along with his spouse (Maureen O'Sullivan) with whom long time ago he had not honeymoon due to George must work at the company. George winds up spending time with lovely Pauline (Rita Johnson) , whom he inadvertently discovers is the chief's mistress. Then a crime is committed and George is quick to realize all the tracks are deliberately pointed in his direction. After that, George is assigned by the company to investigate a suspicious death and he suddenly finds himself set up as the prime suspect . Things go wrong and become a bit sticky when he realizes both his chief and helper are also chief suspects . Along the way the situation turns much worse when other people of the enterprise become involved in the investigation to discover the actual guilty .
Classy Crime Melodrama adapted from successful novel written by Kenneth Fearing . It turns out to be a surprising and gripping suspense thriller with a lot of twists and turns . Stars Ray Milland giving nice acting as a morally upright editor who meets a woman and soon gets killed, resulting to be the mistress of his tyrannical boss . Maureen O'Sullivan has a minor role as starring's faithfiul wife . While Charles Laughton is excellent , as usual, as the demanding and cunning boss who schemes twisted set-ups . Along with a large plethora of secondaries such as : Henry, "Harry" Morgan , the regular villain George McReady, Richard Webb, Lloyd Corrigan, Tobin, and Elsa Lanchaster in a sympatheetic role as an eccentric painter, she was Charles Laughton's real wife , among others . It was remade as "No Way out" (1987) by Roger Donaldson with Kevin Costner , Sean Young , Gene Hackman , Iman , Will Patton .
Well produced by Paramount Pictures and Richard Maibaum who subsequently to become himself the main screenwriter of the James Bond 007 series. Atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Victor Young. As well as evocative cinematography in Black and White by two great cameramen, Daniel Fapp and John Seitz. The motion picture was competently directed by John Farrow . He was a good Hollywood filmmaker who got some hits . He married Mauren O'Sullivan and father of Mia Farrow , he had an important cinematic career directing all kinds of genres in films as Saint Strikes Back , This Kind of Woman , Back from Eternity , Botany Bay , Five Come Back , The Big Clock and his last one : John Paul Jones. Rating : 6.5/10. Better than average. Well worth seeing. The yearn will appeal to Ray Milland and Charles Laughton enthusiasts.
