Its easy to see why this wasn't a box office success - for all the surface similarities to The Maltese Falcon it lacks that film's narrative drive, there is no real coat hanger pushing things along (e.g. in Falcon it was Bogie investigating a crime), you want to find Bogie the hero but you're not sure if he is, the ending is too abrupt, etc; but on the other hand its easy to see why this is a cult favourite - the cast is delightful, the dialogue witty and weird, and the whole thing has an off-kilter quality, where you genuinely don't know what's going to happen next, probably because the filmmakers didn't either (the film I guess its closest to it His Kind of Woman).Bogie was really showing his age by this stage, especially when sucking on a smoke, but is still good value - ditto Peter Lorre, Robert Moreley and the other rogues, plus - a big surprise for me - Jennifer Jones as a compulsive liar. I was never a big Jones fan but she's great fun here.
The film also has a pleasing cynical tone and total irreverence for marriage vows - Bogie's married to Gina Lollobrigida (who doesn't actually have that much to do) but he gets involves with Jones why she chases Jones' husband.
With all the grotesques and flashy dialogue I got the feeling it was reminiscent of an Orson Welles film.
(Full movie here)
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