Flawed but entertaining adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel about a drifter and a married woman who fall for each other, kill her husband so that it looks like an accident, and then see things go real sour real quick. It may run a little long, but you can always get engrossed in staring at Lana Turner if you get tired. She’s a beautiful headcase and she only gets crazier as the film goes on. The other most memorable performance here comes from Hume Cronyn who steals every scene he’s in as the slickest defense lawyer in 1940s movies.
There’s an earlier, unauthorized, Italian film version of Cain’s novel called Ossessione (directed by Luchino Visconti). Both films are worth seeing for different reasons. The Italian film is more sexy, but the American film is more mean. It doesn’t even try to make the main characters likable (and that’s okay by me) and takes great delight in poking them with hot irons of paranoia over the second half of the film.
It’s a second tier crime classic, but worth a look for the noir-inclined.