Due to his technical acumen, a telephone repairman (Edmond O'Brien) becomes involved with a local bookie syndicate. The money he receives fuels his greed and he ruthlessly climbs the criminal ladder of success (which includes murdering his girlfriend's husband) to the national level where he meets his match in a crime syndicate boss (Otto Kruger). Shot by director Joseph M. Newman (
THIS ISLAND EARTH) in a gritty
faux documentary style (narrated by a police Lieutenant played by Howard St. John), one isn't sure how to take O'Brien's character. He's our "hero" yet he's clearly morally reprehensible though the film seems to attempt to elicit some sympathy for him. With no other character for us to latch on to, Joanne Dru as the alcoholic wife of a syndicate mobster (Don Porter) who falls for O'Brien is our only point of moral reference. As far as crime thrillers go, this one is bookended by some proselytizing about how seemingly innocent betting with bookies supports organized crime (the film's prologue boasts the film was shot under police protection after threats of reprisals by organized crime), but other than that, it's moderately enjoyable middlebrow entertainment. With Barry Kelley, Dorothy Patrick and Bert Freed.
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