A classic

Since this movie had a really stellar reputation, I was really eager to check it out. Well, it is probably the most essential film noir ever made. Indeed, you basically had all the usual trademarks : the raincoats, the hats, the omnipresent cigarettes, the gansters, the detective, the femmes fatale and the double-crossing intrigues. Considering the directing, I saw as well a couple of other movies directed by Jacques Tourneur (‘Cat People’, ‘I Walked with a Zombie’) but, even though these movies were decent, this feature was definitely much more impressive. Seriously, when you watch the damned thing, it makes you wish that they still made such black and white movies. Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas were just awesome but Jane Greer and Rhonda Fleming were both very good as well. I have to admit that the story was actually rather convoluted but, for once, it didn’t really bother me. Indeed, it is inherent to the genre and the dialogues were such a treat, every 5 seconds, those characters were delivering some amazing one-liners. To conclude, it is a real classic which really deserves its reputation, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.