Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott continue to make a great couple, as they found each other in "Desert Fury". but here it is more sinister in black and white, and there is Kirk Douglas as an even fouler gangster than John Hodiak. Mary Astor is missing here and replaced by a more cynical and less motherly Kristine Miller, who didn't leave a mark on the screen. On the other hand, Wendell Corey is even better here than in "Desert Rage" and makes one of his finest appearances as the hopelessly subjugated slave worker with all his integrity lost. The great scene in the film is his scene, when Kirk forces him to lecture Burt on bureaucracy leading up to the crisis of Burt's own character and integrity assassination. Fortunately there is still Lizabeth Scott, and she upholds the entire picture, not only by her singing. As a singer she was worse than Ida Lupino.
It's neither Burt's nor Kirk's best film, but both are excellent as former gangsters trying to resettle after the second world war, Burt after 14 years in prison and Kirk firmly established as a syndicate mobster. It just can't end well when the two meet again after 14 years when one let the other down.
It was probably his performance here that gave Wendell Corey his only significant lead in a noir a few years later, ("The File on Thelma jordan",) but he was best as a supporting actor and will be remembered best as such - while both Burt and Kirk never stopped rising as stars.
It's neither Burt's nor Kirk's best film, but both are excellent as former gangsters trying to resettle after the second world war, Burt after 14 years in prison and Kirk firmly established as a syndicate mobster. It just can't end well when the two meet again after 14 years when one let the other down.
It was probably his performance here that gave Wendell Corey his only significant lead in a noir a few years later, ("The File on Thelma jordan",) but he was best as a supporting actor and will be remembered best as such - while both Burt and Kirk never stopped rising as stars.