It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Absolutely amazing

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Blistering performances.

To begin with - (Unless I missed something while I was repeatedly nodding off) - No one.... I repeat.... No one in this WTF-film ever woke up screaming, ever. Nope. They sure didn't.And, let me tell ya - I kinda wish that someone had done some serious screaming in this "Noir" rubbish-film - 'Cause this picture really needed something (anything) to wake its dreary story (and me) up.And, speaking about the prevalence of police harassment and Gestapo-style interrogation taken by the NYPD throughout the story-line - This demented "Noir" dud certainly brought all of that business right down to the level of laughably preposterous absurdity in no time flat.(You really gotta see this utter-nonsense movie to know what I'm talking about here)Anyway - The only people who I would ever recommend this asinine picture to would be those who I had absolutely no respect for, whatsoever.

Quite a few reviewers complain that the title bears no connection with the screen play. As One reviewer wrote "It makes the film sound like a cheap horror film". A agree with these assessments. I suspect it was chosen as suggesting an enticing murder mystery: which it is.. .Several reviewers also question the appropriateness of "Over the Rainbow", as a frequent background song for a film noir. The lyrics(not included) emphasize a dream of a more exciting life. This certainly applied to Vicky(Carol Landis): the murdered girl, after she was encouraged to try becoming a glamour girl. Perhaps less obviously, it can apply to sister Jill(Betty Hutton) and promoter Frankie(Victor Mature) with regard to their growing relationship. It might even apply to the psychopathic police detective Cornell(Laird Cregar), who dreamed of marrying Vicki. Speaking of music, Carol gets to sing "The things I Love", whereas Betty's song: "Daddy" was deleted, but can be seen at YouTube.The cat and mouse game between Frankie and police detective Cornell constitutes the heart of the drama, along with identifying the killer. We learn that Cornell has 2 related obsessions: 1)marrying an unglamorized Vicki 2)pinning her murder on Frankie, who promoted her as a potential glamour girl, even though Cornell knows the identity of the real killer. Frankie and Jill have to discover the identity of the real killer for themselves. They got a confession out of a suspected killer by having Jill mimic over the telephone the voice of the supposed deceased Vicki. This freaks out the murderer, and Frankie, with some encouragement, gets a confession out of him(very unlikely).It's interesting that Vicky claimed that Jill was in love with Frankie. They both denied it, but later events would prove her right. Later, Frankie told Jill he didn't love Vicky, he just wanted to promote her new ambition to become a glamour girl, instead of only a waitress. Again, I don't believe that, because he was mighty upset when she said she was leaving for Hollywood. Seems like all the men loved her, and were upset that she was leaving. There was an odd episode where Jill was moving out of the apartment she had shared with Vicky. When she arrived home from work to pack her things, she was astonished to find that the front desk person had already packed them and had her suitcases ready to put in the taxi! I'm surprised she wasn't more angry. I can only assume that he wanted her gone as soon as possible for whatever reason. There are various other weird or improbable happenings, some of which are detailed by another reviewer. But, it's unusual not to have a few of these in this kind of film. For Carol Landis and Betty, this was a reunion, having costarred earlier in 1941 in the romantic musical "Moon Over Miami"....Neither Carol nor Cregar would live many more years. Cregar would die from complications from his crash diet, to try to change his image from a heavy heavy....Carol would nearly die of several tropical diseases while entertaining the troops overseas, never fully recovering her health. The remainder of her short life reads much like that of Marilyn Monroe in her later years. She had numerous short marriages and affairs, but was unable to complete a pregnancy due to endometriosis. With her film carrier in limbo, and in debt, Rex Harrison's ending of their affair was the last straw, and she finally succeeded in killing herself, after several failed attempts. The B&W copy shown at YouTube is in excellent condition. Also , available as a DVD or Blue Ray.

My feelings about this film changed when I watched it last night on TCM during Betty Grable's Summer Under the Stars tribute. It is not as good as I remembered. It suffers from quite a few plot contrivances, and the main stars look a little uncomfortable in their roles (except for Laird Cregar and Carole Landis), and for the most part it sort of registers like a glorified B crime film. I think Grable was right when she told studio boss Darryl Zanuck that she was not cut out for straight dramatic parts and stuck to musicals henceforth. In a musical you can get by with mediocre acting if your dancing and singing is spectacular. But in a film of this nature, with nothing else to fall back on, you have to be very convincing-- and in some spots she is a bit too self-conscious and not at all convincing. Costar Victor Mature does not exactly have a handle on his character either (but as his career at Fox continued, he would become a dependable dramatic lead). VICKI, the remake that hit screens twelve years with Jeanne Crain and Jean Peters, is better in my opinion.

War-time film noir has small-time promoter Frankie (Mature) accused of murdering a young client (Landis) just as she is leaving him for Hollywood. A brutish police inspector (Cregar) is convinced Frankie did the dastardly deed, and hounds him. The dead woman's sister (Grable), at first skeptical of Frankie, comes to believe him and helps him as the police tighten their net. It will be evident who the real murderer is from the moment he appears on screen, but the fun here is in following the tense cat and mouse game between Frankie and the obsessive inspector. Cregar steals every scene he is in. And pinup queen Grable ain't half-bad as the conflicted sister. Colorful supporting cast includes Alan Mowbray as a washed-up actor, William Gargan as a society columnist, Charles Lane as a florist, Morris Ankrum as an assistant DA and Elisha Cook Jr. as a front desk man. Well worth a look.