The cast (Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor, and Raymond Burr) and thumbnail story description of two undercover agents infiltrating a drug ring in Mexico had me excited about this film noir, but it ended up being a rather bland nourish adventure film. It's along the lines of "Out of the Past" or "The Big Steal" but nowhere as good. MacMurray and Trevor are both trying to bust Burr's drug smuggling ring, but neither knows that the other is an undercover agent. The cast makes the film watchable, but the story had more possibilities than what ended up on screen. A decent cast and set- up are squandered. Disappointing, but watchable.

Barely Watchable Misfire that Waivers Wildly Between Crime Thriller and Comedy. The Cast does Their Best with this Lame Material and the Film Lacks Any Style Whatsoever. It is a Dated Movie that may have a Few Amusing Scenes and a Line or Two of some Good Wordplay but Overall it is a Mess.There is One Embarrassment After Another. In the Opening a Lady Cop Fights to be Accepted in a Man's World. A Nightclub Song and Dance that is as Irritating as what goes on during the Scene as Lady Cop makes Advances Toward Raymond Burr, the Criminal Mastermind. A Bedroom Scene with Claire Trevor's Lady Cop Pulling a Gun on Fred MacMurray for what Might be a Pass. Last, but not THE Last Uncomfortable Scene is a Rest Stop at a Mexican't Home. Just Awful.On the Positive Side, there is Actually Mention of the Word DRUGS, but Only Once, the Rest of the Time it is Referred to as Stuff. A Sadistic Interrogation Scene, and the Mention of a Truth Serum, a Tabloid Headline After the War that had some Interest about Human Rights. But that's it, Move Along, there is Very Little of Interest here.

This is the kind of movie fading Hollywood stars used to come to England to make in the fifties and dire as they mostly were those British movies were light years ahead of this piece of cheese. All hands - director Seiter, writer Freeman and cast Trevor, MacMurray and Burr - had done much better stuff and all must have been equally desperate for any gig at all to take this on. To call it rickety is like calling the bridge at San Luis Rey a solid construction: The first ten minutes are squandered setting up Claire Trevor as an undercover Fed which is then negated by having Fred MacMurray appear out of left field with no back story and coming on like a hood. Everyone concerned seems to be playing in a different movie and chemistry between Trevor and MacMurray is minimal to non-existent. This should have gone straight to video - in Pluto.

With so many films of the 40's and 50's readily available for cheap (public domain)it is possible to build a pretty large library of classic period films with the change that you find in your couch. I had owned this one for over a year before I watched it (it was wedged inside a budget "film noir" collection.) I was very impressed when the title credits rolled (excellent transfer-rare for public domain DVD)and noir greats Claire Trevor, Fred MacMurray and Raymond Burr head the cast. It takes about 60 seconds to figure out that this is not a film noir and it takes about another ten minutes to realize that it is not a send-up like Bob Hope's "My Favorite Brunette". It is just a lame film that for some reason has been kept from showing much wear and tear. That said, if you are a hardcore fan of the noir or classic genre it is almost worth sitting through simply for the unintended laughs. And it may make you reach for films like "The Blue Gardenia" or "Desperate" to see what a great noir actor that Raymond Burr was.