Dave Hillman, in for Bill MacV (THE SCARLET HOUR had not resurfaced at the time of his passing) gives us a solid look at this interesting but uneven late-cycle noir...

This is an obscure Paramount noir from 1956, directed by the highly regarded Michael Curtiz ("Casabanca", "Mildred Pierce", many others). The leads are not exactly A-list: Carol Ohmart ("House on Haunted Hill") and Tom Tryon ("The Cardinal", author of "The Other").

Elaine Stritch makes a snappy movie debut as the leading lady's somewhat boozy friend, and you'll also see E. G. Marshall, Jody Lawrance, James Gregory, and several other familiar faces.

Ohmart is the ice queen femme fatale, and she's serviceable if not very surprising. Tyron is a block of wood in the John Gavin mode. He's having an affair with Carol. It does not go smoothly. But it's fun to see Carol pant after Tom when the plot thickens and she can't "be seen with him until everything cools off." You'll understand. The film would have benefitted from a tad more beefcake from Tryon, who is stuck in a boring business suit throughout. At least Carol gets costumes by Edith Head, who was quoted later that Ohmart "moved like a cat." This is accurate and it suits the role.

The script is a cut above average, if bereft of true zingers; the production is slick, and the movie makes excellent use of a nice song, "Never Let Me Go", written for this movie and sung memorably (on screen) by Nat King Cole. I'd heard this rather haunting song on Liza Minnelli's 1996 album "Gently", and liked it, so it was a treat to stumble upon this flick and discover the song's origin. It's basically the movie's theme throughout, fitting for a movie about lovers in a sticky situation.

The movie flirts with a truly tragic ending but regrettably just kind of stops.