In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film begins with Dan talking to Mr. Klinger about the exploits of Klinger's daughter, Kitty. What follows is a very lengthy flashback. It seems that Kitte was interested in getting rich fast. She worked for a while as a girl who would help blackmailers. When a mark came into the room with her along, she'd strip off much of her clothes and grab the guy...while her partner snapped incriminating photos! Tired of this racket, she now set her mind to bigger game and eventually this meant Dan. While Dan was happily dating Linda, Kitty schemed to seduce him away from her...all because she thought Dan was destined for riches. And, when this didn't pan out and Dan's musical career didn't appear to be paying off, she dropped him and was on to the next scheme. In many ways, this is like the great Pre-Code film, "Red-Headed Woman"...but more sanitized and without the great style of this earlier film. Now I am not saying it's bad...but "Red-Headed Woman" is so amazing and entertaining that it's no disgrace to not be as good as this scandalous film. Overall, a decent low-budget film...enjoyable because Kitty is so darn awful!By the way, the landlady in the film is Marie Blake (also known by the stage name 'Blossom Rock'). That's Jeanette MacDonald's older sister...and Grandmama from the TV show "The Addams Family".

This sensationalist, almost sleazy, certainly cheap cautionary tale has been offered a good cast: Martha Vickers plays the adventuress, Hillary Brooke the endearing wife, Dumbrille has a supporting part, Leonid Kinskey plays the kind impresario, Beal is the hesitant songwriter, whose switch to the temptress comes mostly from his habituation with the concubine he knew from their childhood; conveniently, the script skips Linda's fight for her husband, who only comes back to her a 2nd time because his muse Kitty kicks him again. If the facts seem plausible, the script is meager. Genuine tenderness inspires songs less good than those given by infatuation. Anyway, the songwriter's breakthrough should of been the show that got canceled (while he was celebrating with his newfound muse).Martha plays convincingly a seductress, who's not heartless, wicked or mean, but shallow, groundless, misguided, more of a deluded girl, the shapely Hillary Brooke plays a dependable, reliable woman, the domestic muse, who won't inspire hits, but songs that earn a modest living.Kitty makes an attempt at good living: 1st by trying modeling, where she resents being manhandled, etc., then by taking part briefly in a frame-up business, with a crooked lawyer, afterward she shares in the songwriter's sudden fame; she even claims being fond of the tycoon she married, the industrialist, and it was a leading role for the actress, though the script offers no one a good role. The script is obviously interested mainly in the social trend, not in the characters or drama.The storyline for an exploitation movie was ready; with a good script and a better director, this one could of been a drama.

If you can get past the sappy ending and a few plot stretches, this is a pretty good programmer. Seems Dan's (Beal) a struggling songwriter who takes inspiration from Kitty (Vickers) such that he comes up with a popular hit. Trouble is he's had a long relationship with good girl Linda (Brooke) that now comes unglued as Kitty schemes to get a share of the windfall. Thus the narrative follows the romantic and calculating travails of the boardinghouse trio.It's a cheap production. However, the acting is good even if the story seldom leaves movie sets. This is a chance to catch two of the 40's premier vixens in the same frame. Brooke is cast against type, all sweetness and light, yet managing to bridge the strained abruptness of Linda's romantic turnarounds. At the same time, Vickers hides her scheming under a pretty face that's hard to resist. To me, the non-handsome Beal is perfect for the beleaguered composer, his disheveled appearance quite appropriate to the role. And too bad this was the only screen appearance of Laurie Lind (Helen) whose mop of hair and distinctive looks are career worthy. Then too, it's a colorful touch casting the so-called mad-Russian, Leonid Kinskey, as the harried music producer. He lends an exotic contrast to the more conventional others. It's also worth noting how radio dominates the movie's entertainment scene. However, 1949 was a year when TV was making inroads into the popular media including film, but no hint of that here. Anyway, the distinctive cast makes this contrived story worth a look-see.

A young songwriter (John Beal) tells his story of his relationship with a missing young woman (Martha Vickers) who was part of a shady alimony racket where young women marry men they don't love and manipulate the husband into divorcing them so they can share the alimony with the shyster lawyer (Douglas Dumbrille) representing them. Vickers is a tough cookie who claims she influenced Beal into writing the song that made him a success, stealing him away from his girlfriend (Hillary Brooke) with the intention of fleecing him.This fast-moving "B" film ranks slightly higher than an exploitation movie, yet is actually very entertaining. The future "Blossom Rock" (Marie Blake) is extremely amusing as Beal's and Vickers' advice-giving landlady with Dumbrille appropriately smarmy as a lawyer using young women to meet his own ends. Vickers goes over-dramatically ballistic in one scene with Brooke but for the most part, she is a cool cat with claws sharpened for that waiting pounce. It is easy to see why Beal could be manipulated by her. While Brooke isn't necessarily naive enough to see through Vickers, she isn't given the opportunity to stand up to Vickers beyond a simple warning. Still, she's believable, and her nobility isn't played as stupidity or wimpiness. The result is a fun scam-related noir drama that may not be classic but is a step above the usual poverty row pot-boilers.