Merle Kramer works as a stenographer for a psychiatrist. She is casually dating Karl Benson, a private eye and former cop. Merle mentions in passing that one of her boss's patients is an author with recurring dreams of murdering his wife, and she includes the fact that the wife owns valuable jewels. When the wife is found murdered in a manner identical to that of her husband's dream, the husband is naturally the prime suspect. But as the investigation of the police and insurance investigator Joe Cooper proceeds, it turns out that several people in the case, including Merle, are not what they seem.
Acting
Duryea's sleazy charm makes you trust him anyway.
Writing
Dream-murder premise deliciously twisted.
Cinematography
Shadows that swallow characters whole.
Director
Lewis R. Foster
Dorothy Lamour
Merl Kramer
Sterling Hayden
Joe Cooper
Dan Duryea
Karl Benson
Irene Hervey
Ruth / Mrs. Alton Bennet
Phillip Reed
Guy Bayard
Harold Vermilyea
Dr. Redman
Alan Napier
Alton Bennet
Art Smith
Detective Lt. Bill Dawson
Irving Bacon
Sgt. Fayle
George Humbert
Italian Restaurant Owner (uncredited)
Keye Luke
Chinese Laundry Owner (uncredited)
Maidie Norman
Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
Ian Wolfe
Charlie, a Fence (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sterling Hayden was fresh off his film debut in *Virginia* (1941) and still learning to act on camera—his stiffness here actually suits Cooper's insurance-man suspicion.
Released at noir's peak, this B-picture rode the psychoanalytic craze sweeping postwar America—dream analysis was box office catnip after *Spellbound* (1945).
US
