Being the name of the dodgy district of Honolulu into which an innocent American woman (Evelyn Keyes) strays, searching for her supposedly dead husband. I like the way it begins in the middle of a story. A man in a bar (Wendell Corey) receives a blackmail threat but only his partner (Nancy Gates) reads it. She takes immediate action and shoots the blackmailer in the head. I was then expecting the inevitable flashback, like every single ITV drama these days, but it stays in the present, which is very refreshing.
In the Hell's Half Acre night sequence, which I guess was shot on location, all shadows, angles and strange music, I was getting a Third Man vibe, I don't know if that was intentional.
An interesting film, that's for sure, with a nasty villain, Philip Ahn, a Peter Lorre-like squeaker, Leonard Strong, a cheerful female taxi driver, Elsa Lanchester, and a good example of the femme fatale, Marie Windsor, who as far as I can tell remains locked in the Ladies.
Shot by John L Russell. An independent Republic picture. Liked the credit for Technical Consultant to 'Dan the Beachcomber'.
Written by Steve Fisher, authour of the novel 'I Wake Up Screaming' and screenplay writer of Song of the Thin Man, Hunted, Roadblock, The City That Never Sleeps, The Shanghai Story, then much on TV into the seventies.
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