A truly unpredictable plot and some fine inky black photography are the highlights of this swift B-movie noir. It’s about a crooked district attorney who finds himself in danger when a gangster whom he once prosecuted escapes from jail. The film is a little distancing because it never truly gives us a lead character to follow. Most of the story plays as a flashback from someone who’s keeping a lot of secrets. The closest thing we get to a hero is crusading reporter Russell Wade and he’s not even present for some of the plot’s most important moments. It works though, in large part because the whole thing barely lasts an hour.