Perhaps the most perfectly realized, thematically and stylistically, of all Siodmak’s noir films. Victor Mature is the lawman and Richard Conte the fugitive crook he pursues across Manhattan, with tragic results. It may be light on plot, but the searing performances from both men are more than enough to compensate. These are two heavyweights in their prime, and watching them square off is a thrill matched only by the scene-stealing Hope Emerson (in her film debut, no less). Her conniving masseuse proves to be a pain-in-the-neck to Conte in more ways than one. Shot entirely on location, Siodmak skips the semi-documentary vogue of the day, creating instead an expressionistic urban landscape ideally suited to this mythic mid-20th-century tale of good and evil.