A better film noir than Postman but still a little lackluster. The problem with these film noirs is how complicated the plot gets. There are way too many twists and turns, and with this film employing the classic flashback technique of film noir it becomes even more convoluted. That seems to be a trend of these movies is to use flashbacks as part of a framing device to allow for some twist ending or just to make the story seem more mysterious simply by being non-linear in nature. But honestly those storytelling devices make the film just confusing and hard to follow and thus not that enjoyable as a result. It must have been a novelty act of the time to use flashback to such great degree because a few great films of the era successfully used the technique.
The lighting is great in this film. Again it's very film noir chiaroscuro with intense backlighting and patches of dark and light right next to each other. The acting is definitely better. It's a little more subtle and edgy but still somewhat uninspired. It’s remarkable to see how the backgrounds change to real locations and sets and the development of film stock and lenses in furthering the background and creating shallow depth of field that is the look of film as we know it today.
Burt Lancaster is great in this film and really jumps onto the scene as a nuanced, subtle and brooding actor who takes his time with his beats and really lives the moments. He's not Marlon Brando but he is a step towards that style of Stella Adler acting.