A waitress (Carole Landis) discovered by a promoter soon has several men interested in her, but gets killed before getting on a train to Hollywood. The way the crime is solved isn't perfectly told and this noir lacks the crackling dialogue of others in the genre, but the cast is compelling and the cinematography is pretty good. I love Betty Grable as the sister who finds herself being pursued by the suspected murderer (Victor Mature); she oozes a mix of 1940's innocence and appeal on the cusp to her own stardom. Hot on the trail is an aggressive and obsessed cop played wonderfully by Laird Cregar, and it's a shame the actor would die at 31 just three years later. For these two alone, the film is worth spending 82 minutes of your time.
The Production Code tries to keep things clean in some ways (while being wined and dined, the waitress gives three different men a key to her apartment, but it's passed off as innocent), but the film manages to be pretty subversive in others (let's just say, the actions of the police). The moment of truth scene is very enjoyable, especially for 1941. The title doesn't fit the film at all given the plot, and I have to say, the soundtrack is a real lowlight, alternating between "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the theme from Street Scene (1931), both of which work in their original movies, but not here. It's a lesser noir and probably best categorized as a B-movie, but I was entertained.
The Production Code tries to keep things clean in some ways (while being wined and dined, the waitress gives three different men a key to her apartment, but it's passed off as innocent), but the film manages to be pretty subversive in others (let's just say, the actions of the police). The moment of truth scene is very enjoyable, especially for 1941. The title doesn't fit the film at all given the plot, and I have to say, the soundtrack is a real lowlight, alternating between "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the theme from Street Scene (1931), both of which work in their original movies, but not here. It's a lesser noir and probably best categorized as a B-movie, but I was entertained.