Directed by:
Lewis R. FosterScreenplay:
Lewis R. FosterCinematography:
Ernest LaszloComposer:
Darrell CalkerCast:
Dorothy Lamour, Sterling Hayden, Dan Duryea, Irene Hervey, Phillip Reed, Harold Vermilyea, Alan Napier, Art Smith, Irving Bacon, James Edwards, Maidie Norman (more)Plots(1)
Alan Napier tells his psychiatrist, Harold Vermilyea, that he has been suffering from a recurring nightmare. He dreams that he has murdered his wife, Hervey, after finding out that she was sneaking around with a lover. In no time at all, Hervey is found dead and her best gems are missing. Napier is immediately suspected by detective Art Smith and by the insurance investigator on the case, Hayden. Napier, as you might imagine, is innocent (nobody accused of a crime in the first reel is ever guilty). Lamour, who might have helped the film if there had been a scene in which she could have worn a sarong, is Vermilyeas secretary. Because she types up all his cases, she found out about the dream and the jewels, and told her nogood boy friend, Duryea, about it. Duryea, a lowlife private eye, then managed to get a duplicate key to the Napier apartment. He intended to steal the gems but when he got there, Vermilyea had already murdered Hervey and was stealing the baubles. Duryea subdued Vermilyea and took the jewels away. Vermilyea tells Duryea that he recognizes him, and the two men cook up a plan to frame Lamour for the murder so they can share the booty and get off untouched. Vermilyea seems to go along with Duryeas plan, but it is a ruse and he locks Duryea in a closet, then runs off with the gems. Duryea cannot be held in check very long, crashes out of the closet, and runs Vermilyea down with his car. Now that Duryea has the gems, he wants to get rid of Lamour. He goes to her place and is about to kill her because he knows she may blow the whistle on him. His murder attempt is stymied when Smith and Irving Bacon arrive and keep Duryea from tossing Lamour off the roof. A couple of jokes liven things up and Duryea does a good job in the role of the underhanded private eye. He was the epitome of the cynical and sneering evil soul for whom some women fall. In later years, he became well-known in that type of role, but his earliest success came when he played the weak-willed son in the Broadway production (and the later film) of Lillian Hellmans "The Little Foxes." (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Dorothy Lamour
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Hurricane (1937)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Sterling Hayden
USA
Best movies:
The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 (1992) (TV movie)
The Godfather: A Novel for Television (1977) (series)
The Godfather (1972)
Dan Duryea
USA
Best movies:
Scarlet Street (1945)
The Little Foxes (1941)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Irene Hervey
USA
Best movies:
Cactus Flower (1969)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
Phillip Reed
USA
Best movies:
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
Song of the Thin Man (1947)
The Tattered Dress (1957)
Harold Vermilyea
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Alan Napier
UK
Best movies:
My Fair Lady (1964)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Madame Curie (1943)
Art Smith
USA
Best movies:
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Arch of Triumph (1948)
Irving Bacon
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
James Edwards
USA
Best movies:
The Killing (1956)
Patton (1970)
The Set-Up (1949)
Maidie Norman
USA
Best movies:
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (series)
The Opposite Sex (1956)
Keye Luke
China
Best movies:
The Good Earth (1937)
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Paul E. Burns
USA
Best movies:
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Storm Warning (1951)
Spartacus (1960)
Donald Kerr
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Country (1958)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Robert B. Williams
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
North by Northwest (1959)
The Killing (1956)
Ian Wolfe
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
Love Crazy (1941)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Stanley Blystone
USA
Best movies:
Modern Times (1936)
The Circus (1928)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Dorothy Vaughan
USA
Best movies:
After the Thin Man (1936)
Gentleman Jim (1942)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
Morgan Farley
USA
Best movies:
Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Julius Caesar (1953)
High Noon (1952)
John George
Syria
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Killing (1956)
East of Eden (1955)