A lawyer's wife starts an affair with a mobster but is confronted by his other flame who ends up murdered and the adulterous wife is set up to take the blame for the killing.A lawyer's wife starts an affair with a mobster but is confronted by his other flame who ends up murdered and the adulterous wife is set up to take the blame for the killing.A lawyer's wife starts an affair with a mobster but is confronted by his other flame who ends up murdered and the adulterous wife is set up to take the blame for the killing.
Archie Twitchell
- Roger Alison
- (as Michael Branden)
Frank Wilcox
- McKingby
- (scenes deleted)
Griff Barnett
- Mr. Adams
- (uncredited)
Barbara Billingsley
- Weil
- (uncredited)
Lillian Bronson
- Secretary
- (uncredited)
George M. Carleton
- Attendant
- (uncredited)
James Carlisle
- Member
- (uncredited)
Thaddeus Jones
- Mr. Porterville
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film resulted in a loss to MGM, not even making back its negative cost, according to studio records.
- GoofsThe newspaper report of the murder spells the word 'clue' as 'clew'. The use of the word "clew" for "clue" is old British English; a high-brow, literary spelling of the word. It is now considered archaic.
- Quotes
Tony Arnelo: All my life I've played it smart. It's not true anymore.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Akvaariorakkaus (1993)
Featured review
A Frozen Face Showcase
A relentlessly glum 86-minutes. I don't know who's to blame for Gifford's unrelieved stony face, but it's like she and Hodiak are having a dour-off to see who can be more expressionless. As a romantic couple, they have all the charm and plausibility of robots. Even the usually affable Murphy gets little chance to beguile. Between that and a relentlessly talky script, the movie takes an unfortunate nose-dive into monotony.
The premise is pretty standard crime fare—a neglected wife (Gifford) is drawn from her comfortable shell by a handsome shady character (Hodiak). Since the wife's also a mother, she struggles with the temptation, but is constantly reminded how neglected she is by her lawyer husband (Murphy). Soon a murder connected to Hodiak occurs. Now a potential scandal hangs over the luckless Gifford's and her attempt break with the heartless Hodiak.
Writer-director Oboler was an interesting talent. His background in radio, however, shows up in the talky script. But he was also capable of fascinating flashes of imagination as in the post-apocalyptic Five (1951) and the psychodrama Bewitched (1945). I suspect he was hemmed in here by requirements from the notoriously conservative MGM. Thanks to that airbrushed studio, we can't even be sure there was an actual affair between the wife and the practiced seducer. That way, the wayward wife doesn't have to be punished more than she is, and audiences could go home feeling good.
Too bad RKO didn't produce this. That way, Oboler might have been drawn in a noirish direction, which the material richly deserves. Anyway, only the presence of sassy cynic Eve Arden and canny kid Dean Stockwell lend the film any spark. I especially like that scene with dad Murphy and son Stockwell fixing the broken stool. That showed needed life and imagination. Too bad the rest of the movie doesn't.
The premise is pretty standard crime fare—a neglected wife (Gifford) is drawn from her comfortable shell by a handsome shady character (Hodiak). Since the wife's also a mother, she struggles with the temptation, but is constantly reminded how neglected she is by her lawyer husband (Murphy). Soon a murder connected to Hodiak occurs. Now a potential scandal hangs over the luckless Gifford's and her attempt break with the heartless Hodiak.
Writer-director Oboler was an interesting talent. His background in radio, however, shows up in the talky script. But he was also capable of fascinating flashes of imagination as in the post-apocalyptic Five (1951) and the psychodrama Bewitched (1945). I suspect he was hemmed in here by requirements from the notoriously conservative MGM. Thanks to that airbrushed studio, we can't even be sure there was an actual affair between the wife and the practiced seducer. That way, the wayward wife doesn't have to be punished more than she is, and audiences could go home feeling good.
Too bad RKO didn't produce this. That way, Oboler might have been drawn in a noirish direction, which the material richly deserves. Anyway, only the presence of sassy cynic Eve Arden and canny kid Dean Stockwell lend the film any spark. I especially like that scene with dad Murphy and son Stockwell fixing the broken stool. That showed needed life and imagination. Too bad the rest of the movie doesn't.
- dougdoepke
- Mar 30, 2017
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Hemligt möte
- Filming locations
- Art Institute of Chicago - 111 S. Michigan Avenue, Downtown, Chicago, Illinois, USA(Opening shot when Tony Arnelo picks up Anne Parkson in his car)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $892,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 26 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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