Secret Service agents make a deal with a counterfeiting inmate to be released on early parole if he will help them recover some bogus moneymaking plates, but he plans to double-cross them.
Direction
Fleischer's lean, mean 78-minute efficiency—no fat, all venom.
Cinematography
Gritty LA locations that breathe more than any soundstage could.
Director
Richard Fleischer
Lloyd Bridges
Tris Stewart
Barbara Payton
Meg Dixon
John Hoyt
Agent John Downey
James Todd
Jack Sylvester
Russ Conway
Chief Agent Gunby
Robert Karnes
Agent Fred Foreman
Jay C. Flippen
Bartender (uncredited)
Tommy Noonan
Bank Teller (uncredited)
Rory Mallinson
Agent Charles (uncredited)
Frank Sully
Sam the Bartender (uncredited)
Harry Antrim
Warden (uncredited)
George Barrows
Federal Agent (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Fleischer shot guerrilla-style in actual LA locations—the Federal Building, Union Station, crowded streets—giving this B-picture an accidental vérité edge most A-noirs lacked.
Barbara Payton's real-life descent into scandal and tragedy eerily mirrors Meg's compromised morality; watching her here feels like unintentional prophecy.
US
