A cop frames an innocent man for murder—then his girlfriend helps the patsy escape. Chaos ensues.
When the available evidence in a murder case points to a young woman as the main suspect, her boyfriend, a police detective, arranges for a struggling songwriter who is playing piano in a bar to be blamed for the crime. The girl, knowing that neither she nor the piano player committed the murder, helps him to escape from the police dragnet and try to find the real killer.
Writing
Charles Bennett's twisty script—he wrote for Hitchcock, and it shows.
Acting
Lew Ayres brings wounded dignity to a thankless wrong-man role.
Director
Charles Bennett
Lew Ayres
John Howard Tracy
Sonny Tufts
Det. Simon Shayne
Lewis Martin
Lt. Bruce Gunning
Gertrude Michael
Olga Valerie Lewis
Charles Cane
Wilbur K. Grossett
Renny McEvoy
Turnip
Bobby Watson
Claude Duffy (as Robert Watson)
James Griffith
Peter Hayden
Robert Bailey
Detective Bob
Barbara Morrison
Mrs. Beresford
Carleton Young
Don Holden
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Charles Bennett co-wrote 'The 39 Steps' and 'Foreign Correspondent' for Hitchcock before fleeing to B-pictures.
This 1953 'B' noir arrived just as television was killing the second-feature market—one of the last gasps of the 76-minute programmer.
US
