This was a break-out film for Alan Ladd. Up until then, he'd just been performing bit roles. Here, he is given 3rd billing, but he clearly is the star of the film.
Ladd plays a sociopathic hit-man who seems to have not one ounce of compassion for anyone--except animals. After fulfilling a contract, he meets with the super-sleazy guy who hired him (Laird Cregar) to get paid. Creger is great--he just drips sleaze and menace as well as cowardice! And, being a sleaze, he tries to get Ladd arrested by giving him money that was supposedly stolen. This point in the film actually made no sense--there was no reason to do this AND Ladd could always tell the cops about Creger.
Miraculously, Ladd escapes arrest and vows to kill Creger and the mystery man he was working for but who was not yet revealed. He meets up with Veronica Lake and she helps him escape. Now the ironies involving him meeting up with Lake is way over the top. She is ALREADY working secretly for the government spying on Creger AND her boyfriend just happens to be the cop leading the investigation of Ladd. This and the stolen money aspect bring the overall rating down to an 8--this film could have earned a 10 due to Ladd's characterization and the interesting plot (much of the time).
Instead of continuing to telling you the rest of the story and spoiling it, I will just point out that the actual story is deeper and involves selling poison gas to our enemy--the Japanese. It is then a propaganda film AND a Film Noir flick--a pretty good combination all-in-all.
Ladd plays a sociopathic hit-man who seems to have not one ounce of compassion for anyone--except animals. After fulfilling a contract, he meets with the super-sleazy guy who hired him (Laird Cregar) to get paid. Creger is great--he just drips sleaze and menace as well as cowardice! And, being a sleaze, he tries to get Ladd arrested by giving him money that was supposedly stolen. This point in the film actually made no sense--there was no reason to do this AND Ladd could always tell the cops about Creger.
Miraculously, Ladd escapes arrest and vows to kill Creger and the mystery man he was working for but who was not yet revealed. He meets up with Veronica Lake and she helps him escape. Now the ironies involving him meeting up with Lake is way over the top. She is ALREADY working secretly for the government spying on Creger AND her boyfriend just happens to be the cop leading the investigation of Ladd. This and the stolen money aspect bring the overall rating down to an 8--this film could have earned a 10 due to Ladd's characterization and the interesting plot (much of the time).
Instead of continuing to telling you the rest of the story and spoiling it, I will just point out that the actual story is deeper and involves selling poison gas to our enemy--the Japanese. It is then a propaganda film AND a Film Noir flick--a pretty good combination all-in-all.