Actors: William Lundigan,Dorothy Patrick,Jeff Corey,Nestor Paiva,Charles D. Brown,Paul Guilfoyle,Edwin Max,Frank Ferguson,Marlo Dwyer,Archie Twitchell,Douglas Spencer
Genre: Year: 1949
Imdb: click here "However, where the film - a brisk, taut 60 minutes! - truly scores is in its brilliant direction of the suspense sequences: the startling revelatory zoom of the villain's blank-faced dummy is particularly striking, whereas the scene in which we realize that "The Judge" has effectively replaced the dummy in Lundigan's office is genuinely creepy; these two sequences, not to mention the 'look' of the dummy itself, uncannily predate the Italian giallo genre by about 15 years - and I just have to wonder whether Mario Bava had actually watched this film somewhere down the line, and was perhaps reminded of it, when making his own seminal thriller BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964)!! Besides, the climax by the huge water tanks is quite splendid, and rarely has the rain been so ominously used as in this film!A classic of its kind and, in hindsight, an influential one which, hopefully, Warners will consider releasing on DVD soon - as it's actually better than some of the noirs which are out already or have been announced by them"
