A film noir from Universal which gave a meaty lead role to George Nader, stepping in for Jeffrey Hunter who was going to star but fell ill.
Nader is an alcoholic journo whose wife wants him to give up drinking. She gives him a tip from her brother (Brian Keith) that a major crim is in town, with plastic surgery, and will be arrested. He turns up, sees the gangster shot dead by the cops (after drawing his gun, this isn't a corruption story), but then spots the real gangster. Problem is, because he's a boozer, no one believes him.
That's not a bad idea for a film. Alec Coppel worked on the script. It's quite gloomy. As if Ray Milland from The Lost Weekend was thrown into a thriller. But not bad.
George Nader rises to the occasion even though Brian Keith who plays the cop would probably have been better in the lead. Joanna More does her best in the Jane Wyman part as the "c'mon you can do it" girlfriend. Virginia Field has more fun as a stripper who knows the gangster.
The alcohol stuff is interesting but this is a programmer. It lacks an extra twist or two - like say making the baddie or his stripper gal an alcoholic, or having someone force booze into Nader.
Still it was interesting. Richard Carlson, better known as an actor, directed.
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