The core of the drama is the torment of the debilitated Buzz—and the hell reserved at home for heroes, who often faced their traumas in silence.

It knows its own weight and size perfectly and carries them gracefully and without self-importance; it is, barring occasional victories and noble accidents, about as good a movie as can be expected from the big factories.

Alan Ladd and William Bendix are in rare form, and Miss Lake is seen to best advantage in many a film.

The finale is smartly unpredictable, though by the time the killer is revealed, some of the steam and intensity has dissipated.