This was a perfect vehicle for self-professed cad George Sanders and he found a gal more than his match in cold blooded Gail Patrick here. They share some surprisingly frank and witty badinage about criminal psychology along with their mutual oily distaste for humanity which transcends the occasionally breezier aspects of this quasi noir and gives it a nicely crusted edge. The movie veers back and forth between crime drama and something a bit lighter but overall, it hits a lot of good notes and has dated surprisingly better than many far more famous movies from the same era. The library antics are amusing enough, but the real selling point of this movie is Sanders, whose effortless cool is right up there near his best and far more recognized roles.

I saw this only once back in the '80's when UK TV regularly used to show programmes more than a few years old, never forgot it and finally caught up with again last night. It would be an ordinary little b picture in a rather grotty condition but for its unusual plot and setting which make it worth at least one look.Polished thug (George Sanders) – and his slinky female cohort (Gail Patrick) – both with mental issues are ready to murder people to get to valuable rare books so he can forge copies from them for resale. He murders a library security guard to get an olde copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet, problems then arise after he rips off a sinister gang of Nazis already speculating for the post War world, and a mercenary private dick (Richard Denning) is also on his track. Most of it is set in a dimly lit city of a library with miles of bookshelves, only running back and forth along its aisles and even stumbling across the Art room twice cheapens the overall atmosphere, which is surprisingly dark and menacing. Make no mistake, the various sets of baddies at each other's throats are an evil bunch of weirdos, with Sanders spouting manic cod psychology at every lucid moment, never mind Patrick not telling the truth for the entire picture. With a stroke of luck long haired Denning sorts it all out leaving wide eyed Sanders hoping to "die in terror", Patrick to go her own sweet way as a not very convincing victim of her own conscience, and even walks off at the end happily for a coffee with a GI's girl. And this is only a sketch for there's a lot packed into 67 complicated minutes.Thought provoking hokum yet daft beyond words and a little gem I treasure. To paraphrase what the man said, fulfil your secret desire to be caught off guard and pleasantly surprised.

From the compelling opening scene (the best in the movie), Fleg (George Sanders) an expert forger of rare books is after a valuable edition of "Hamlet". When the library curator jokes "over my dead body", after Fleg has asked if he may take it home, Fleg is happy to oblige. If only the rest of the movie had lived up to the opening but, unfortunately, it doesn't. His partner in crime is Myra (Gail Patrick) a rare book appraiser and she has been busy trying to convince Martin Cleaver (Sidney Blackmer) that "Hamlet" is the genuine article and a steal at $20,000. But Cleaver is dangerous, he, in turn, is intending to sell the book to Nazi Generals (Goerhing, Himmler etc).Most of the movie is set in the public library, where Fleg takes control by masquerading as a police officer (and a very commanding one) and ordering the rare books to be put under "police protection". This was the directorial debut of John Larkin, who also wrote the story. To his credit he achieved more excitement from a library setting than most directors got from a whole war and it is a pity he only directed two more films (one was a short subject).Sanders and Patrick had screen chemistry together - with their Freudian comments about their need for danger and "You enjoy being hurt", but once Richard Denning entered as a Detective, the dark originality took a back seat to conventionality. Even my eyebrows were raised as Denning, in an effort to find the priceless lost books started flinging valuable books off the shelves. Then Lynne Roberts appeared as a patriotic librarian waiting for her Johnny, who is serving overseas. A different ending may have been viable, but in production code films of the 40s all offenders had to be punished so Patrick would never have been able to walk away. The fact that there was no romance between Denning and Roberts provided a patriotic subplot - so at the end he could upbraid Patrick's duplicity with a speech about how "there are plenty of girls like Kay in America today" etc, pointing out that she is loyal and true to her country and her man. Maybe the film meant to highlight that, in those fearful times, Patrick may have been the real villain, someone who has no loyalty and is not to be trusted.Gail Patrick began her career as a colourless ingenue, but, after "My Man Godfrey", broke the mold and from then on always seemed to find work as a haughty femme fatale. Lon McCallister had a very brief part as Freddie the library stacker. Theodore Von Eltz who, in my opinion, was a dead ringer for Edmund Lowe, had a brief scene in Denning's office.Recommended.

Master forger of rare books (Sanders) gets mixed up with Nazis (Blackmer), a detective (Denning) and a double-crossing dame (Patrick).The convoluted script may take a Rosetta Stone to solve, still it's a slickly done TCF programmer. Those two smoothies Sanders and Patrick are well cast as a couple of A-team masochists, engaged in a game of one-upmanship and about as trustworthy as rattlesnakes. In fact, Patrick's character qualifies for the Devious Dame Hall of Fame, with her warm personality and stone cold heart. Still, I'm a bit surprised that some of that pain-loving dialog Sanders relishes made it past the censors. Usually old Hollywood just hinted at such things instead of belaboring them.Denning and Roberts are clearly America's team, though Denning may wobble at times. One thing for sure—set design and art direction come cheap since most of the action takes place in a single setting, a library. Still, director Larkin keeps things moving. And get a load of baldy Kurt Katch's mute Nazi. He's about as inviting as the polar ice cap and just as chilling. But, I'm still wondering which thug belongs to which gang, which does get confusing.Oh well, things do sort out, I think. Then too, it's 1942 and the war is still in doubt. Byron Foulger's officious little air warden may be on the silly side, but the blackouts weren't. These old movies do show us things the history books can't. Anyhow, the movie may be nothing to write home about. But it's still impressive how Hollywood could turn out such slick little programmers in the middle of a big war.