Very cheesy movie. The story and dialogue is definitely gripping and the acting at times is definitely subtle. However, this film feels more ham-fisted and cliched than most. It seems very bold and brunt with the beat changes and revelations, coming across more like a bad soap opera rather than a film noir. However, it has film noir elements to it in the story and the lighting.
One of the most striking features of this film is how markedly you can see the cultural shift towards sexualizing and idealizing women. This film’s treatment of the central female role when considering the other films from the time period is definitely more misogynistic, placing men’s sexual desires first above the woman’s independence. At the end of the film she runs to the arms of a strongman detective who is raging with testosterone to fuck her. And she plays the emotion of wanting it and throwing herself around as if she’s a sex object. That's really how it comes across.
The shift is very marked from the early 30’s, and it seems like in the early to mid 40’s the role of women in society as reflected through film, specifically American Hollywood cinema, is one of idealized sexualized object that exists for men’s pleasure and suggests women’s only role in the world is to fulfill that sexual need and be that desireable object as best they can.
Apparently it worked much better than I thought. The style and creation of the film is definitely successful, it’s like a successful piece of spam. Made very well but hammy nonetheless.