Michael Ward (John McGuire) gets a big raise for writing a big newspaper article against Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) in his murder trial. Joe insists on his innocence but gets convicted solely on Michael's testimony. Michael starts having second thoughts. A stranger (Peter Lorre) breaks into his room. When his hated neighbor gets killed, Michael suspects the stranger and becomes concerned that he could be railroaded like Joe. His girlfriend Jane may be the only one on his side. She goes searching for the stranger with only a vague description.
I like the first hour or so of this movie. It's an interesting murder mystery premise. The Kafkaesque surrealism is a little confused but I'm willing to go with it. Michael going to the police is problematic. He's being too clueless. Then the movie goes into a quick wrap-up mode and ends quickly a few minutes after an hour. Did they run out of film? Lorre never explains what happened. It's all wrapped up with a giant fake bow. This has some intriguing neo-noir aspects despite a rather bland lead couple. Lorre makes up for any flaws with his weirdness. I just don't know about the truncated third act.
I like the first hour or so of this movie. It's an interesting murder mystery premise. The Kafkaesque surrealism is a little confused but I'm willing to go with it. Michael going to the police is problematic. He's being too clueless. Then the movie goes into a quick wrap-up mode and ends quickly a few minutes after an hour. Did they run out of film? Lorre never explains what happened. It's all wrapped up with a giant fake bow. This has some intriguing neo-noir aspects despite a rather bland lead couple. Lorre makes up for any flaws with his weirdness. I just don't know about the truncated third act.