The film starts with a Bang! Accountant Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien)
stumbles into a San Francisco police precinct
to confess to having committed a murder, the murder of himself. He has
been poisoned and will soon die, but first and
for our viewing entertainment, we get a Flashback where he tells the
crime cops and us, his unfortunate story.
Frank's story:
He had an accounting business in Palm Springs, California,
and a love affair with his faithful secretary Paula (Pamela
Britton), on and off that is because Frank didn't want to committ himself
to a serious relation yet. Frank went to San
Francisco on a weekend with the hope of perhaps meeting some attractive
lady, goes to his hotel and with some other
guests he visited a nightclub where he drank from a glass that a Mr.
X had substituted, and he was poisoned.
Visiting a doctor he received the depressing diagnose "You've
been murdered" and that he would die shortly.
Who did it and why?
Frank started to investigate on his own and found a
trace to a Mr. Phillips who had called his office just before he went
on his weekend in San Francisco. An accountant handles a lot of information
and possibly he had touched something
very secret and deadly without him knowing about it. Did Frank found
his killer?
This classic crime thriller has a very simple plot but
it's snappy with a remendous pace and a very entertaining watch.
A re-make with Dennis Quaid was made in 1988 which i haven't seen. Neville
Brand plays a cool underling, Chester.
The film was in 4:3 fullscreen black & white and in fine quality
streaming video on Youtube. Thanks Youtube!