On the one hand, a powerful and daring noir, dealing both with psychotic racialism and the post-effect of war in soldiers with 'snakes', but somewhat sabotaged by too many talky sequences.
A striking beginning has a murder in a hotel room involving soldiers; Robert Young gets involved and finds Roberts Mitchum and Ryan as possible suspects. But the real question is what happened to Mitchell (George Cooper) the one who's gone a bit screwy (nice subjective camera effects from J Roy Hunt here). Turns out he's had a long night of the soul and a kiss and an offer of spaghetti from Gloria Grahame, but it's his wife Jacqueline White he's really missing. Didn't recognise Sam Levene as the victim.
We watched it eleven years ago and my review was almost exactly the same.
Eddie Muller tells us that it was a box office success but following it both producer Adrian Scott and Dmytryk were imprisoned as being part of the Red Menace. Ryan regretted taking the film as he was forever typecast as a wound up psycho.
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