This is Anne Baxter's film as a lovelorn telephone operator hit on by the rather solicitous and sleazy man-around-town Raymond Burr. Although initially more like a soap-opera as we dwell on the lives of three female roommates and their romantic woes, it does get progressively darker and the emotional turmoil gets ratcheted up slowly by the end - the noir vibes are middling here as the feelings of guilt and suspense are diluted by a very straight-line plot, little in the way of noir lighting/camerawork and underused male leads. Still, Baxter brings some depth and pathos to her character and brings real conviction to her ordeal. Burr is creepy from beginning to end and Conte is the good-guy reporter - but both have been given very one-dimensional characters to play - still, they bring some gravitas to the scenes. For Fritz Lang completists only, I'd say.