“Save your lipstick, girls, he plays for keeps.” Secretary tries to help her PI boss, who is framed for a murder.

A solid B thriller melodrama, with Clifton Webb reprising his role as the obsessive older lover from the superior Laura (1944). Lucille Ball is entertaining as the wise-cracking secretary with smarts. Mark Stevens is ok as the gumshoe, and William Bendix is great as a hoodlum heavy.

But night scenes and expressionist lighting alone do not give you a film noir. Fun to watch and the soundtrack deepens the ‘night-life’ milieu of the after-dark scenes. Ms Ball looks good smoothing her size-9 nylons over those long legs while making snappy innuendo.

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