Not to be missed – “one of Preminger’s great films on obsession and anguish” (Chris Fujiwara) In this brooding, claustrophobic, and intense work – perfect light summer entertainment! – hard as nails Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), driven in his job as a New York cop by hatred and shame of his criminal father, crosses the line from police brutality to manslaughter in his ruthless pursuit of an underworld kingpin. He covers up the crime, fakes an alibi, and continues on his obsessive quest, even as he becomes involved with the innocent suspect’s daughter (Gene Tierney). It’s hard to say what is most impressive about this superb noir, peopled by characters haunted by marital or financial problems, memories of the war or unhappy pasts. Andrews has rarely been finer as the compulsive cop, but the film’s feverish atmosphere, Times Square “twitching with menace” (Foster Hirsch), captured in Joseph LaShelle’s expressionistic  compositions, remains equally memorable. “A weatherbeaten Andrews gives one of his finest performances in Preminger’s superior noir, boasting hardboiled and sardonic dialogue, courtesy Ben Hecht, and a surprising strain of pathos” (Geoffrey Macnab, Time Out London).

Rated PG.