This is one of those comedy/mysteries or mystery/comedies that succeed in being neither particularly mysterious nor particularly comic. Actually, so far as the mystery is concerned, the scriptwriters make little effort to work up any suspense at all as to the actual identity of the killer. Indeed, this movie is more a straight thriller than a puzzling who-dun-it, but it must be admitted that some of the sequences do have a fair amount of excitement, aided by Joseph Walker's atmospheric photography and the setting itself.
Unfortunately, as for the characters themselves, they remain from first to last as rather ambiguous figures – and this criticism applies even to the principals, Loretta Young and Brian Aherne. Loretta looks a bit less emaciated than usual and plays with her usual, sweetly smiling competence. Brian's approach to his characterization is shallow and rather superficial. He remains – like most of the supporting players – as a mere stock figure, and not a particularly sympathetic one at that! Like many of the screen's amateur detectives, he assumes an always-attempt-to-be- witty, devil-may-care attitude, but fails to back it up with the kind of brawny derring-do that audiences like. Even in the movie's most dramatic moments, he remains a clown.
Of course, Aherne was doubtless limited by the script – as are the support players like Sidney Toler and Donald MacBride who play comic policemen. Actually, Toler and MacBride are a bit more successful than Aherne. Gale Sondergaard is also on hand, but has only the one scene. Blanche Yurka looks delightfully sinister. William Wright as Carstairs does a lot of talking, but it's uninteresting talk. Jeff Donnell has a promising part, but it develops in a disappointingly routine fashion. The direction was in the hands of Richard Wallace, a dull but competent director who made a career handling movies that were halfway between "A" and "B". His best of his sixty-one films, in my opinion, was Sinbad, the Sailor (1947). He also did good work on The Fallen Sparrow (1943), although I must admit that most people don't like that movie, despite its great cast: John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak.
Unfortunately, as for the characters themselves, they remain from first to last as rather ambiguous figures – and this criticism applies even to the principals, Loretta Young and Brian Aherne. Loretta looks a bit less emaciated than usual and plays with her usual, sweetly smiling competence. Brian's approach to his characterization is shallow and rather superficial. He remains – like most of the supporting players – as a mere stock figure, and not a particularly sympathetic one at that! Like many of the screen's amateur detectives, he assumes an always-attempt-to-be- witty, devil-may-care attitude, but fails to back it up with the kind of brawny derring-do that audiences like. Even in the movie's most dramatic moments, he remains a clown.
Of course, Aherne was doubtless limited by the script – as are the support players like Sidney Toler and Donald MacBride who play comic policemen. Actually, Toler and MacBride are a bit more successful than Aherne. Gale Sondergaard is also on hand, but has only the one scene. Blanche Yurka looks delightfully sinister. William Wright as Carstairs does a lot of talking, but it's uninteresting talk. Jeff Donnell has a promising part, but it develops in a disappointingly routine fashion. The direction was in the hands of Richard Wallace, a dull but competent director who made a career handling movies that were halfway between "A" and "B". His best of his sixty-one films, in my opinion, was Sinbad, the Sailor (1947). He also did good work on The Fallen Sparrow (1943), although I must admit that most people don't like that movie, despite its great cast: John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak.