User reviews

Columbia goes to a series of newspaper articles about the drug traffic in this story about upper middle class housewife Betsey Palmer volunteering to go undercover for the narcotics squad. The sincerity of the story telling and, indeed, Miss Palmer's acting, manage to overcome a few holes in logic, like her ability to impersonate an ex-con after studying a list of junkie slang.

Basically the understated night-life photography of Burnett Guffey and a large cast of skilled if little-known screen actors of all ages -- including Snub Pollard and Eddie Le Veque as well as Jack Lord as the lead drug dealer -- manage to keep this interesting enough to overcome the problem. Plus Miss Palmer is gorgeous. It's a pity she didn't get a chance to be in more movies until a quarter century later, but she had plenty of work in TV.

Betsy Palmer proves she deserved bigger film roles. She is quite lovely but more importantly, she turns in a very good dramatic performance in this film.

While some aspects of this film are dated, it is still dramatic and suspenseful. You'll be shocked society had such a problem 60 years ago.

Surprisingly well-done true-life crime thriller from the late 50s. Based on a real character and her story, this is a tight little noir-tinged film. Lynn Stuart's is a woman so disgusted by drug-related crime in her area that she volunteers to go undercover with police. Betsy Palmer is excellent as Stuart. She has to play a gun-moll type convincingly, and it's pretty amazing that Stuart pulled it off in real life with no experience whatsoever. Also well cast is Jack Lord as the crime boss Stuart flirts into a romantic relationship with her. He's cold-blooded and Stuart soon finds herself in a very bad situation, made worse by her own family problems. The film moves along nicely and believably. Look for TV and movie regular John Anderson as the stone-faced kingpin and Gavin MacLeod in a small role, twelve years before he joined Mary Tyler Moore's sitcom

This picture rocks! Bought a 16mm print of this great movie and we're projecting it again for 2021! Love Betsy Palmer, Love Jack Lord! Love Edmund G. Brown! Sure wish we had a guy like him around today! Film director Lewis Seiler does an excellent job at the helm, turns out to be his last film! What a shame! See it on film if you can! The best way to watch a great black and white motion picture! Another gem from Columbia Pictures! Can't wait until the projector and screen are set up! Now where did I put that darn old Covid-19 mask?

Just as Raymond Burr was a fine movie heavy during the Film Noir period, only to become a TV hero in "Perry Mason" and "Ironside", here is Jack Lord utterly convincing as a cold-blooded smooth gangster baddie, before being immortalized in "Hawaii 5-0" (plus cult fave "Stoney Burke").

Title role is a real-life housewife who volunteered to go undercover to unmask the mob running drugs from Mexico to Los Angeles. Casting wholesome Betsy Palmer (rather than a blonde bombshell moll of the era, like Cleo Moore or Mamie Van Doren) was a great move, since she's pretty enough to pose as a drive-in waitress turned gangster moll, yet fitting the bill as a loving mother in dangerous territory.

B-movie veteran director Lewis Seiler does a smooth job, realistically unfolding the story details and packing a ton of suspense (and red herrings) in the final reels. And as the gangster boss is John Anderson, underplaying in a rare malevolent role for the friendly-looking character actor.