the audience applauded

Strong and Moving!

Admirable film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

(Flash Review)Not sure if the poor quality Amazon picture transfer degraded or distracted my enjoyment of this as the picture was far from sharp. Anyway, this has a clever little plot for a Film Noir. The film opens with the heroine standing over a man she has just shot and then wishes she could rewind the past. Poof, the story rewinds back one full year yet she can remember what will happen in the future year. Will she be able to avoid last year's life choices that lead her down the path of murder? I may need to try a Netflix DVD for a rewatch but at first pass the film didn't have enough suspense to feel gripping and the pacing felt slower without enough tension to keep me fully engaged.

Trim little noir actually benefits from its small budget since it necessitates a focus on the main story with little extemporaneous exposition. Intriguing premise is well directed by the little known Welker and well played by most of the cast. The one weakness of the story is in the main character's devotion to a husband who is nothing more than a venal lout. She tells other characters in the film what a good guy he use to be but all we see is an incredible jerk that she is clearly too good for and her almost super human patience with him borders on sadomasochism. That aside the picture does sweep you up right from the beginning and keeps you curious about the resolution.The two best performances come from Joan Leslie, as the woman given a second chance to correct a tragic mistake and Richard Basehart as a sort of Greek chorus devoted standby. They are supported by a fine cast who all add nice touches to their scenes. Difficult to find but worth the time to seek out.

Interesting noir that issues from an imaginative premise-- suppose we had a year that we could live all over again. So who wouldn't want that opportunity. Naturally, we could change our own actions to better optimize outcomes, but what about others-- would their actions have to change too. The premise may even require the entire world to live that same year over so as to fit into the changes that ripple out from our own changes. Conceptual questions aside, the premise is simplified here into a rather clever soap-operish plot— namely, can sympathetic Sheila (Leslie) avoid killing her louse husband (Hayward) a second time around. That is, can she maybe just ignore his many provocations, given a second chance.Instead of playing up occult aspects, the screenplay concentrates on revolving relationships among sophisticated show-business types. It's a good cast, especially an agreeably addled Richard Basehart. However, I'm not sure the sweetly gentle Leslie has the gravitas for a difficult role, especially for the wronged woman part. Still, she certainly wins our sympathy. Director Werker films in noirish style lending the visuals a suitably twilight quality. The ending too is appropriate, without obvious cheating on the premise.The movie seems more obscure than deserved and I'm not sure why. It certainly made an impression on me on first viewing many years ago. I suspect the obscurity is because of a B- movie cast-- no matter how accomplished—and a non-studio pedigree. But whatever the reason, the film remains a thought provoking 90-minutes even this many years after.

I just saw this film play in a 16mm copy last Friday night ~Jan 25 '08. The brochure stated that there were no usable 35mm prints good enough for playing on a big screen.It played at The Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Also playing with another unreleased to DVD Joan Leslie movie "The Hard Way"This well thought out movie has it all. It doesn't sell out the possibilities that could go wrong or against you if you were living it.The main actors in this stylish film noir romp all were credible in their motives and actions. Seeing Natalie Schafer from Gilligan's Island fame was funny playing a scheming and controlling diva of the arts world. Tom Conway as "everybody's big brother" had a part that he owned. Louis Hayward as the cheating husband and Virginia Field who was playing along with the dangerous and cheating fun. You could tell that there were sparks between them. Those same sparks were missing in the married relationship with Joan.Basehart was great in his first film role. There were some outrageous corny lines of dialogue that had the audience laughing along with the scene when it wasn't supposed to be funny on screen. But, overall he nailed it in a crucial part.I hope that this comes to DVD soon while Joan is still around. It would be even more astounding if she herself gave a running commentary to it!!!