...or maybe I should say it was a low priority rather than low budget noir, at least for Warner Brothers. WWII has just ended and Warner's A list stars have not yet returned from war, so the B list actors got a chance from 1942-1947 to take the lead.
This starts out as many a noir starts out - a lovely but lonely gal marries in haste to a dashing stranger - a doctor at that!. But beginning on their honeymoon it seems like someone is trying to kill her new husband and not being the least bit subtle about it. Also, there are strange people following the new couple around and taking pictures. Oh, and hubby forgot to mention he's been married before, has a son, and is in a nasty custody fight with his ex-wife.
The art design is cleverly done. The surroundings start out bright and cheery - on the beach at a seaside resort. As the new bride encounters layer after layer of suspense and uncertainty, the environment becomes as gloomy as her potential future as she ends up living in her husband's creaky old home with two sour looking servants that don't seem to like her any more than she trusts them.
I say that this seems like a low priority film to WB because there are some plot holes and goofs that just look silly in retrospect. The police consider the deceased an accidental death because he has fallen from a balcony although he carries clear marks and bruises from a beating? The police chief has the picture of the President on his wall, but it happens to be the President that died the year before (FDR)?? The new bride writes letters to a trusted friend about people she doesn't trust and then gives those letters to those untrusted people to mail?? The new husband has a distinct European accent but his sister does not??
The script is great overall, the atmosphere perfect, and the acting adequate, in particular I have to give kudos to Helmut Dantine as the creepy acting new husband. I'm sure in 1946, with memories of the war in Europe still fresh in everyone's minds, the rather Germanic accent of Helmut Dantine added just the right amount of suspicion and mystery to his character. Plus, note the subtle undercurrents of the coming cold war and red scares in the rising element of suspicion against anyone who is "different" - in this case Helmut Dantine's character who dares to question conventional medicine and even uses hypnotism on his patients - oh the horror! He MUST be a Communist! (Tongue in cheek here folks, this film is not about politics!)
