Reporter Michael Ward (John McGuire) gives testimony at trial that helps convict an innocent man of murder. Now Ward finds himself in a similar situation, accused of a murder he didn't commit. His girlfriend Jane (Margaret Tallichet) sets out to find a creepy stranger (Peter Lorre) seen lurking about on the night of the murder.

Despite being top-billed, Peter Lorre is not in this much. But when he is in it, he's really creepy and weird in that Lorre way we all love. Also, I loved Elijah Cook as the poor sap wrongly convicted at the start of the movie. Often cited as the first film noir, this is a very cool murder mystery that effectively uses flashbacks and dream sequences. It has a lot of style for a B movie that barely runs an hour. Just goes to show you don't need 2 1/2 hours to make a good movie, something today's filmmakers should learn.

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 noticed some folks say this is one of the first film noir movies. Considering how many different definitions exist for what is noir, I think it's a point not worth arguing. But, I did notice that the camerawork looked very typical of noir...with a great use of shadows and angles.

The story is about a murder. A newspaper reporter witnesses some guy beside the body of a restaurant owner....and testifies about this in court. The man is convicted. However, soon another body is discovered and it's also found by the reporter...and the police assume he's the real killer. So, it's up to the man's fiancee to try to find the weird little man who might be the killer.

Despite being only in the movie here and there, Peter Lorre got top billing. While ridiculous, it made sense as the two leads (John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet) weren't exactly household names and the studio wanted to capitalize on Lorre's stardom.

As for the movie, it's a mixed bag but is generally a good B-movie. I liked a lot about it but a couple things made little sense and should have been changed. First, the dream sequences are kind of cool but seemed like padding...I would have used less. Second, towards the end, the lady tries to get help and the landlady begins screaming at her...telling her she's a drunk after the frightened woman whispers "Call the police...that man's going to kill me". That seemed a bit odd. Still, the good easily outweighed the bad AND it was very good for a B-movie.