What It's About:

After the murder of aspiring actress Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), the police focus their investigation on New York promoter Frankie Christopher (Mature), who'd been helping with her career, and question Vicky's pretty sister Jill (Grable). Drilled by hard-nosed detective Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), Frankie maintains his innocence, and finds himself drawn to explain himself to Jill. But the evidence against Frankie is piling up, and Cornell is determined to nail him.

Why I Love It:

One of the first Hollywood whodunits to build an atmosphere of torment and menace around its two protagonists, Humberstone's enthralling psychological thriller opens with two police interrogations that quickly establish character, motives, and the events leading up to the murder via flashback. Mature and Grable give complex performances as a pair thrown together by circumstance and drawn into a love affair, but the film really belongs to Cregar, whose brutish portrayal of an unscrupulous policeman was a career high. This stunningly photographed, ominous early noir will leave you "Screaming."