Rita Hayworth's hotness didn't surprise me. But her acting chops certainly did.
Backstage after a smokin' opening number she's grilled by a police inspector and a stooge from the U. S. consulate. Her husband has died from Clintonside. Watch her eyes and her body language as she emerges from her change room. That is first-rate acting right there.
Day of the inquest, the dead man's brother - Glenn Ford - steps off a plane. Ford accuses Hillary, er, Rita Hayworth of being complicit in his brother's/her husband's death. There is anger. But the maid - a Magical N3gro movie trope if there ever was one - intervenes and before long they're having dinner together.
Ford plays a convincing tough guy who is intent on unravelling the mystery of his brother's death. Hayworth matches him scene for scene.
Judged on its own and not in comparison to whatever other movies feel are comparable, it's a decent mystery and the Ford/Hayworth pairing is natural and incomparable.
Alexander Scourby pretty much steals the movie as the bad guy (this is not a spoiler; it's obvious) and Valerie Bettis as a boozy excuse for exposition is a lot of fun. That maid got on my nerves, though.
Backstage after a smokin' opening number she's grilled by a police inspector and a stooge from the U. S. consulate. Her husband has died from Clintonside. Watch her eyes and her body language as she emerges from her change room. That is first-rate acting right there.
Day of the inquest, the dead man's brother - Glenn Ford - steps off a plane. Ford accuses Hillary, er, Rita Hayworth of being complicit in his brother's/her husband's death. There is anger. But the maid - a Magical N3gro movie trope if there ever was one - intervenes and before long they're having dinner together.
Ford plays a convincing tough guy who is intent on unravelling the mystery of his brother's death. Hayworth matches him scene for scene.
Judged on its own and not in comparison to whatever other movies feel are comparable, it's a decent mystery and the Ford/Hayworth pairing is natural and incomparable.
Alexander Scourby pretty much steals the movie as the bad guy (this is not a spoiler; it's obvious) and Valerie Bettis as a boozy excuse for exposition is a lot of fun. That maid got on my nerves, though.