'Fate or some mysterious force can
put the finger on you or me for no good reason at all.'
One may probably find the name of
the film in many critics’ Best Noir films top ten list and it deserves that
place too. Perhaps this is the shortest noir film I’ve ever seen with length of
one hour seven minutes running time; needless to say it’s crispy and gripping
one.
When everyone was making noirs
with heavily paid stars and actors backed up by big studio and producer,
Director Edgar Ulmer made a unique low budget noir pushed by pulp fiction plot,
quite unknown actors all set in a car and road. For the most part of the film
we see the car and what’s happening as trap and consequences inside as well as
outside it. The first half an hour of the film and there’s moment of jolt when
a strange dame joins the car headed to LA. The protagonist is a piano player
cum hitchhiker who is in a fix confronting two strangers in ride and their
accidental deaths that put him as prime suspect of murders. It would be a big
spoiler if I reveal anything further about its plot. Watch it to check its cult
status in noir films.
Ratings- 7.5/10
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