“I listened to my own story, and brought in my own verdict.” — Robert Young to Jane Greer

This neglected masterpiece is every bit as deserving of the praise reserved for only the finest of films in the noir drama genre. Rarely has the true nature of a heel been so clearly defined as in this RKO classic starring Robert Young a shallow cad who can’t seem to help himself. And never has a man of less moral character deserved any less the love and devotion of three women. Jane Greer, Susan Hayward, and Rita Johnson are splendid as those women in director Inrving Pichel’s riveting, flashback-laden and twisted tale which begins and ends at a murder trial. Enhanced by another fine score from RKO’s Roy Webb, lush photography from Harry Wild, and a fine adaptation of Gordon McDonnell’s story by screenwriter Jonathan Latimer, this film grabs you from the opening moments and just won’t let go. Produced by Joan Harrison, more surprises await the unsuspecting viewer than in an entire case of Cracker Jacks.

Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward) is dead as the film begins, and Lawrence Ballentine (Robert Young) is on trial for her murder. All the evidence has been presented, and it doesn’t look good at all for Ballentine. His only hope rests with his own testimony, and when his attorney puts him on the stand to tell his story, we are frozen to our seats listening to the tale of arguably the biggest heel in film history. Pichel uses flashbacks as Ballentine tells a story both sordid and mesmerizing. The more he says, the more viewers are left wondering how it all endedup in murder — IF indeed it did — and later, just who was murdered.

So twisted is this story of love and crime you’d have to actually TRY to spoil it for someone to do so, and even then you might not succeed. Ballentine shows himself to be, through his own testimony, a morally deficient man who married his wife Greta (Rita Johnson) for her money. Lovely Jane Greer, before Howard Hughes tried to ruin her career, is Ballentine’s first affair, Janis. But she’s no Saturday afternoon girl, just a sweet and lonely one who makes the mistake of falling in love with Larry.

While Larry may have married for money, his wife Greta did not. Aware that her husband is of weak fiber, Johnson is wonderful here, as a wife who can't stop trying to make things work because her marriage means everything to her. It makes Larry’s behavior, and the attitude he displays about her to other women, even more despicable. Moving him around as quickly as her money will afford, however, can’t improve his character or lessen his weaknesses. Eventually he takes up with secretary Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward). Perhaps due in part to the influence of female producer Joan Harrison, all the women here, even the somewhat trampy Verna, prove to have more character, with all of them driven by love. It is that love, so undeserved, which makes the story Larry is telling the jurors so repugnant. We learn how one of these women died, but that’s only the beginning of this sickening but can’t-stop-watching look at a true heel.

A car accident, a suicide, and a shallow cad who only realizes how ugly he’s been while telling it out loud on the witness stand can’t begin to describe the twists and turns here. Every time something new is revealed, and you think you’ve got a handle on things, a hairpin curve nearly causes you to crash in flames. Beautifully shot by Harry Wild, especially the scenes of the ranch in Tulare County with the waterfall, the story does the rest. Hayward is especially excellent here, eliciting sympathy as a trampy girl who for once plays it straight, but with the wrong guy. Greer is also terrific in a role which counterbalanced her darker turn in Out of the Past this same year. Rita Johnson is quite wonderful as well, playing the part of a sweet wife so well we want to throttle Larry.

Fantastic and much underrated is this marvelous film. Another must-see film for all classic film fans. ( )