The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
Acting
Ann Savage's Vera: a viper in a diner dress, pure venom.
Direction
Ulmer turns cardboard sets into claustrophobic hell.
Editing
Choppy nightmare logic—did that even happen? Exactly.
Director
Edgar G. Ulmer
Tom Neal
Al Roberts
Ann Savage
Vera
Claudia Drake
Sue Harvey
Edmund MacDonald
Charles Haskell Jr.
Tim Ryan
Diner Owner Gus
Esther Howard
Hedy
Pat Gleason
Joe
Don Brodie
Used Car Salesman (uncredited)
Roger Clark
Cop (uncredited)
Eddie Hall
Used Car Mechanic (uncredited)
Harry Strang
California Border Patrolman (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in six days for $30,000 at PRC, the Poverty Row studio so cheap they reused sets while other productions were still shooting.
The most famous 'B-noir' ever made—proof that budgetary starvation can produce aesthetic diamonds when desperation meets genius.
US
