No need to recap the plot. Director Edwards had a good feel for the bizarre, starting with his seminal TV series Peter Gunn (1958-61), which featured a number of bizarre characters unusual for 50's TV. Here, that flair shows up, for example, with the proto-human manikin scene and with Red Lynch in scary drag. In my book, Edwards was a more innovative force in Hollywood than he's been credited with.
This is a decent thriller, a big hit on first release. But seeing it now, it seems much of that initial drawing power came from the many bizarre little touches novel to audiences of the time. Because, as a thriller, the movie is stretched too long and paced too deliberately to be really effective. Add to that a couple of dangling sub-plots—the unexplained manikin lady and the extraneous Asian mother and son—and you may wonder what went on in the writers' room. And, of course, there are those puzzling aspects to the crime, well enumerated by other reviewers.
I suspect another reason the film's over-stretched was to accommodate big name Glenn Ford, then at the height of his popularity. He does a good job here as the relentless FBI agent. But truth be told, those sequences could have been profitably shortened with a lesser-known actor since the role is basically a routine cop one.
All in all, this is a movie of fascinating touches and parts rather than a tightly sustained whole. Thus, it's still worth seeing. But for good, sharp impact, there are some better ones from that same period still around, e.g. Narrow Margin (1952); Beware, My Lovely (1952); The Killer Is Loose (1956). So catch up with them if you haven't already.
This is a decent thriller, a big hit on first release. But seeing it now, it seems much of that initial drawing power came from the many bizarre little touches novel to audiences of the time. Because, as a thriller, the movie is stretched too long and paced too deliberately to be really effective. Add to that a couple of dangling sub-plots—the unexplained manikin lady and the extraneous Asian mother and son—and you may wonder what went on in the writers' room. And, of course, there are those puzzling aspects to the crime, well enumerated by other reviewers.
I suspect another reason the film's over-stretched was to accommodate big name Glenn Ford, then at the height of his popularity. He does a good job here as the relentless FBI agent. But truth be told, those sequences could have been profitably shortened with a lesser-known actor since the role is basically a routine cop one.
All in all, this is a movie of fascinating touches and parts rather than a tightly sustained whole. Thus, it's still worth seeing. But for good, sharp impact, there are some better ones from that same period still around, e.g. Narrow Margin (1952); Beware, My Lovely (1952); The Killer Is Loose (1956). So catch up with them if you haven't already.