• Enourmously overlooked film and I can’t tell why- it’s a remake of Renoir’s La Chienne (he notoriously hated the film) and an early noir (b-pictures to some) so perhaps those two factors are why
  • Banned in a few cities
  • Reunites 3 principals from women in the window the year before
  • Might be Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea’s best and probably pretty close for Edward G. Robinson as well- he’s superb
  • It’s a magnificent masculinity study (reminded me of blue angel from von Sternberg)- Edward G. is verbally castrated, made to wear an apron – he does the dishes like 3-4 times in a short film here
  • It really shows Edward g’s range—he was little caesar in 1930 and then can turn around and be the softest of the soft here
  • Dark and painful to watch- so degrading
  • Streetlamp lighting is certainly a reoccurring visual- as are the window shots
  • The voices Edward G hears towards the end of the film are powerful- but it’s not really built up enough- that might be keeping this from a masterpiece
  • MS or Must-see- top 5 quality of 1945