L'emprise du crime

A very good feature that seems to be a soap-opera with touches of film-noir. Barbara Stanwyck plays the femme fatale not as cold-blooded as her earlier turn in "Double Indemnity" ,but her "Martha Ivers" is one really selfish lady. And Stanwyck is as usual very good. For me the best performance comes from the always reliable Van Heflin who magnificently manages to almost carry the whole film. Kirk Douglas, in his debut, is very good as the weakling husband of Stanwyck. Lizabeth Scott who plays the most sympathetic character in the movie is very able and memorable.The movie is at almost two hours perhaps a tad long,but it is well worth investing those two hours.