While perhaps overdependent on coincidence and contrivance, this deft thriller guards its secret right to the end and proved a fitting swan song to Fritz Lang's Hollywood career. Some of the credit must go to Dana Andrews, who brings a chilling calculation to the role of a journalist whose crusade against circumstantial evidence results in a murder rap, and Joan Fontaine, as the loyal fiancée who campaigns to prove his innocence. But it's Lang's teasing direction that keeps the viewer guessing as his camera alights on seemingly inconsequential details that are just as likely to be red herrings as vital clues.

A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom into a hoax in an attempt to expose ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan is to have Tom plant clues leading to his arrest for killing a female nightclub dancer. Once Tom is found guilty, he is to reveal the setup and humiliate the DA.