George Taylor returns from WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, while trying to track down his old identity, he stumbles onto a three year old murder case and a hunt for a missing $2 million.
Direction
Mankiewicz's first solo directing gig, already precision-engineered.
Cinematography
Lloyd Ahern turns every doorway into a moral threshold.
Acting
John Hodiak's confusion feels genuinely unmoored, not performative.
Director
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
John Hodiak
George W. Taylor
Nancy Guild
Christy Smith
Lloyd Nolan
Police Lt. Donald Kendall
Richard Conte
Mel Phillips
Josephine Hutchinson
Elizabeth Conroy
Fritz Kortner
Anzelmo aka Dr. Oracle
Margo Woode
Phyllis
Sheldon Leonard
Sam
Whit Bissell
John (uncredited)
John Russell
Marine Captain (uncredited)
Philip Van Zandt
Navy Doctor
John Kellogg
Hospital Medical Attendant
Richard Benedict
Marine Desk Sergeant
Milton Kibbee
Herman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mankiewicz wrote this in 10 days after Fox needed a quick noir to fill schedules. The speed shows in the best way—lean, mean, no fat.
The amnesia plot was Fox's attempt to replicate Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND success, but Mankiewicz weaponized it for existential dread instead of psychoanalytic spectacle. George doesn't want to remember—he's terrified of who he was.
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