A shy California farm girl falls head-over-heels in love with Barry Burnett, a fugitive from a chain gang building a road through the wilderness.
Acting
Lupino's feral physicality—she climbs cliffs like she's escaping herself.
Cinematography
Big Sur locations that swallow the actors whole.
Direction
Negulesco's brutal close-ups of wanting.
Director
Jean Negulesco
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lupino insisted on doing her own climbing stunts despite studio terror. She'd just broken her back in a car accident two years prior.
This flopped on release—audiences wanted their noir in cities, not forests. Rediscovered only after Lupino became a feminist auteur icon.
US
