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Franchot Tone, him married to Agnes Moorehead and Laraine Day, her married to Bruce Bennett have been carrying on an affair, but Tone comes over to Day's house while Bennett's away and says time to end it. Bennett's a dull sort and Day doesn't want things to end. She gets positively hysterical and remains so the rest of the film with the events that follow. Quite a bit does follow.

Manipulating all that is going on is Dane Clark who is Bennett's brother and it's positively Iago like the way he controls all around him. This might have been Dane Clark's best moment on the big screen as it is Laraine Day's.

If this is ever remade and maybe it should be, it will be a great example about how the Code could nearly ruin a story. The censorship was such that so much was left out in the telling.

Still a nice piece of melodrama.

This Odd Film is Loaded with Edgy Entertainment that Challenged Censors.

In this Downbeat Norish Drama it Confronts Head-On... Adultery, Murder, Suicide, and a Bi-Sexual Incestuous Obsession.

The Wordy Script Takes Place in One Location in a Few Rooms.

With Loraine Day Giving a Difficult Almost Wordless Performance.

The Writing is Sharp and the Performances are Top B-Movie Gold.

The Film's Downfall, if it has one, is the Constant Verbiage and Run-On Dialog by Dane Clark.

It is the Antithesis of Day's Silent Portrayal.

Clark's Constant Jabbering is a Dated, Nervous, Non-Stop Accosting of His Brother's (Bruce Bennett) Wife and His Brother.

He Reveals an Unhealthy Attachment to His Sibling.

Also an Equal Hatred for and Jealousy of Loraine Day.

His Actions are Loathsome and Neurotic.

With Relentless Force and those Dated Antics may be Difficult for some Viewers to Watch.

Along with Bennett, Agnes Moorehead, in a Minor but Crucial Role is Outstanding, but so is the Entire Cast.

Underlined by Max Steiner's Striking Score and a Plot Twist or Two.

The Ensemble Production Manages to Compel the Overloaded Story. And Bring it Together for a Strange and Unique Viewing Experience, Especially in 1949.

Above Average and Certainly...

Worth a Watch.

I saw this when I was 10, when movies were double features and the fare changed weekly. I only remembered it because I loved Day, not because of being an actress, but because she was Leo Durocher's wife and I was a Baseball nut. I saw it again recently on TCM. This movie defies a reason for being, except that the studios needed constant fodder and this film proves the point that it was often volume over content. We are still being crammed with movies that ask the same question, What Were They Thinking, but lack the old excuse.

Day's acting, consisting primarily from 'reacting', is an embarrassment on the same footing as the unlikely dialogue given to the rest of the cast. Her opening scene with Clark makes for great comedy as she goes thru a 360 degree range of reactions to his 25 or so separate avenues of dialogue, mostly questions she never answers. And he's oblivious to the strangeness of her conduct. From there it only gets worse.

It's hard to believe it's the same Day who shown so brilliantly in Mr. Lucky or a movie with such confusing plot turns, but unlike The Big Sleep, where you didn't notice or care.

I usually refrain from commenting on films because there are so many other reviewers out there...but seeing how this just has one review and a very negative, I felt I should offer my opinion.

I'll admit the first 20 or 30 minutes felt like a typical Hollywood pot-boiler. Cheating wife accidentally kills lover; will she get away with it; etc. After this set-up, the film becomes an onion - revealing new layers of characters' motivations and back-story.

Laraine Day stands out superbly as the cheating wife...whole scenes develop around her without her speaking, yet we know what's going on in her mind.

I have to agree with the other reviewer that I loved Steiner's score...but did feel it inappropriate at times. The performances on screen are very subtle and the music is anything but subtle.

I particularly enjoyed the second half of the film as characters acted against stereotypes.

The DVD I watched was from Geneon and featured an adequate transfer; not stellar, but much above average from the usual run-of-the-mill public domain stuff.

What an odd picture. An Overwrought Melodrama with a capital O and a capital M this breaks out of the starting gate hitting high C and continues at a fevered pitch right up to its conclusion.

Unhappy Laraine stabs caddish Franchot by accident then rambles hysterically while the callously odious Dane Clark circles around making her life hell. The one beacon of restraint in the entire enterprise is Agnes Moorehead who shows up none too soon and steals the picture with a controlled and dignified performance while all around her her cast-mates are swallowing scenery whole.