Jack Bernhard directs a darkly atmospheric but disjointed film noir that is rife with plot inconsistencies. The film’s main virtue is the sinister performance by British newcomer Jean Gillie as Margot Shelby, who is the nonredeemable femme fatale with a history of using men and even resorting to violence to achieve her ends. Gillie is one of the more cruel femme fatales in film noir lore.

The film has a grand opening shot of hands being washed in the filthy bathroom sink of a gas station and then the camera zooms in on the zombie-like face of Dr. Lloyd Craig (Herbert Rudley) in the cracked mirror. This sets the dark tone of the film. After leaving the service station, Lloyd hitches a ride into San Francisco and in a dazed condition enters the hotel room of Margot Shelby. Lloyd shoots her and kills himself, just before detective Joseph Portugal (Sheldon Leonard) can stop him. Joseph finds Margot barely alive on the couch. She is pleased with the sergeant’s presence and playfully calls him Jojo, a nickname the tough-guy hates. But the honest cop overlooks it, as Margot is eager to tell him the whole story, before she dies, leading up to this incident.