Lewis in his interview with Peter Bogdanovich claims that every frame he directed bears his own stamp of identity - having seen this fantastic B movie for the first time, I sort of get that. It's really very distinctive, favouring close-ups, and directed in a very stylish way, particularly the now-legendary bank robbery scene shot from the inside of the car, in one take. (As to the story though that Billy Wilder asked him how he had done it - 'was it back projection?' - I don't believe it, because there's clearly a shot where Peggy Cummins steps out of the car to distract a policeman, so he could clearly see it was all on location.) And there's a few more back of the car shots following, like they'd become cocky with it. (Truffaut clearly loved it - cf. Mississippi Mermaid for one. And the film seems very 'modern', like it was made years later, maybe by one of the Nouvelle Vague. Though interestingly there's no mention of the film in my Cahiers du Cinéma collection.)
Recognisable hard contrast photography from Russell Harlan adds to flavour. Ending in reed-filled ?location is both evocative of Japanese cinema (Onibaba) and an instance of beautiful effect overcoming low budget.
Lead John Dall was in Rope.
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