Perhaps best known for the microbudget horror landmark Cat People, Jacques Tourneur reached his true pinnacle here.
Robert Mitchum plays an ex-private eye drawn back to his former associations with a ruthless gambler (Kirk Douglas) and his beautiful moll (Jane Greer), and it all goes to hell. Hardboiled pulp master James M. Cain purportedly did an uncredited pass on the script, which would help explain a lot.
