Alan Ladd made one of the all time great star debuts with this film, up there with Errol Flynn in Captain Blood and Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. He was only billed fourth but it really is the star role since he is the protagonist of the action - a hired killer who is doubled crossed by his boss (Laird Cregar) and goes looking for revenge. Ladd's character, Raven, is ruthless - in the second scene he shoots a man and his mistress, the latter just because she happens to be here; he later kills a cat so it won't give away his location and shoots a cop.But the film is generally very sympathetic to him - he is only after revenge, after all, against people even worse than he (fifth columnists); the killings of innocent people (the girl, cat and cop) happen offscreen so we don't see it; he likes cats (apart from the one he killed); is nice to a little girl; has a bad childhood; his wrist is permanently damaged (though he doesn't have a hare lip like in Graham Greene's original novel); he kills enemies of America; and develops a soft spot for a girl (Veronica Lake) he comes into contact with.
Ladd is incredibly effective - angelic good looks with the personality of a killer; the only time he strikes a slight bung note is during a long monologue about his nightmares which he doesn't quite pull off. Lake wasn't the best actor in the world, either, but is very sexy and strikes charismatic sparks with Ladd (a great duo) - poor Robert Preston, who is billed second and plays her boyfriend, doesn't have a chance, constantly lagging behind, not doing much in the story, popping up at the end to shot Ladd but only being saved from being shot in turn by Lake's presence. (Preston's curly hair, moustache and slight aura of untrustworthiness made him better suited to play villains anyhow).
Laird Cregar is wonderful as the slimy villain; ditto Tully Marshall as Cregar's ancient boss (I remember a wonderful section from Greene's book describing how this character had a bath and went to sleep delighted to have lived for just one more day).
The story has script problems - its too much of a coincidence Preston is searching for Lake just as Lake is asked to spy on Cregar, who happens to run a nightclub (employing Lake) as well as sideline as an executive for a poisoned gas company. This means the film never quite reaches the top rank of noir - although it was very influential for that genre, for while Lake is motivated to act by patriotism and the baddies are dirty traitors, Ladd's fatalistic hero is very much in the noir tradition.
Well shot by John Seitz; director Frank Tuttle shows flair in some action sequences like Ladd jumping on to a train and the murder scene at the beginning; the ending is clunkily staged, though. Interestingly, like Sullivan's Travels there's a scene where Lake dons her male co-star's overcoat and hat (she does look like a cutie in them). It's not perfect - Ladd and Lake made better movies - but highly entertaining.
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