Cinematheque: Siodmak's Universal Noirs

A gentle Victorian tobacconist (Charles Laughton) forms a deep, innocent bond with a beautiful young woman (Ella Raines). When his shrewish wife threatens him with scandal, he is driven to murder. He must then play a cat-and-mouse game with a police detective (Stanley Ridges) and thwart his rotten, blackmailing neighbor (Henry Daniell). Robert Siodmak's efficient, atmospheric direction places this thriller in a league with Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street. (USA, 35mm, 85 min.)