A capable cast, headed by Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum, and a nice, taut story idea have been set adrift in a pretentious Freudian mist that wafts through the handsomely mounted proceedings with disastrous results.

Superb Freudian crime thriller, noir-inflected in theme but shot by and large in crisp, bright drawing-rooms.

The sets, characters, and actions are extremely stylized, yet Preminger's moving camera gives them a frightening unity and fluidity, tracing a straight, clean line to a cliff top for one of the most audacious endings in film history.

Film buffs smile knowingly at the mere mention of this title, for two reasons.