The secretary of an affably suave radio mystery host mysteriously commits suicide after his wealthy young niece disappears.
Acting
Claude Rains weaponizes charm like a switchblade.
Direction
Curtiz stages a birthday party so tense you'll sweat.
Cinematography
Shadows that swallow rooms whole.
Director
Michael Curtiz
Joan Caulfield
Matilda Frazier
Claude Rains
Victor Grandison
Audrey Totter
Althea Keane
Constance Bennett
Jane Moynihan
Hurd Hatfield
Oliver Keane
Ted North
Steven Francis Howard
Fred Clark
Richard Donovan
Harry Lewis
Max
Jack Lambert
Mr. Press
Ray Walker
Donovan's Assistant
Nana Bryant
Mrs. White
Walter Baldwin
Judge Maynard
Charles Horvath
Cab Driver (unconfirmed)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The elaborate birthday party sequence was shot in a single continuous take, a technical flex by Curtiz that Hitchcock later studied for Rope.
This was Audrey Totter's final film noir—she traded shadows for sitcoms, becoming one of television's earliest working moms on The Mothers-in-Law.
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