Charles Laughton steals the show as usual, here as an old smuggler who has seen better days and suffers from sore feet, as he tries to manoeuvre a smuggling racket on an island off Central America, where he works with Vincent Price in a particularly disgusting character. Ava Gardner is there though and more splendid than ever in her amazing beauty, married to a drunkard that does not get any better but goes from bad to worse, as he is all mixed up in the racket. Enter Robert Taylor as a police sent from America to investigate and put an end to the smuggling, but he naturally gets involved with Ava Gardner. There are some striking scenes here of adventures at sea, while the finale offers you a wild fiesta with fireworks. There is everything here except Hemingway. The film is a bit overloaded and gets rather stagnant at times, but on the whole it's a great noir offering all the best of the genre.