alan curtis have a loud and violent sound argument with his wife and slam out of his apartment and have a night of drinking with a mysterious lady with a large hat in a bar ( run by andrew tombes and in a nice villainous part for a change ) and and return to find his wife dead and the police and lead by thomas gomez wait for him . his attempt to prove his alibi that he be with that mysterious lady fall because everyone that he can think of ( tombes and elisha cook ) claim there be never any such person . he end up with no alibi and although his secretary ( who secretly love him ) ellen raines believe him . convict after a trial and he be await his death sentence . raines start go out after the truth and discovering that gomez have some doubt of his own . she also find an ally in a friend of curtis and franchot tone and who be apparently out of town the night of the crime . will she clear curtis in time . the phantom lady be base on a novel by william irish ( the great noir writer cornell woolrich ) . a movie fan know from other work by woolrich ( leopard man and the night have a thousand eye and rear window and no man of her own ) one can not assume what be true on the surface anywhere . the miss wife of a salesman may not actually be upstate and send him message that she arrive and if he still have her jewelry . the mentalist may really be able to predict tragedy or be he plot the murder of his old partner and now an oil millionaire . do a leopard kill the young woman and or be the wealthy recluse in town actually hide some guilty knowledge . be the young woman and claiming to be the wife of a brother kill in a train wreck and actually an impostor . here it be raines and gomez ( with an assist by tone ) try to prove curtis do see a woman nobody will admit see and if he do see her and why be nobody else able to recall see her . the problem with the story really be curtis personality he give in too easily when find guilty of the crime he do not commit . in reality anyone who be innocent would be scream it to the moment they be execute . however and in defense of curtis collapse and it also happen to other people in various film represent gary cooper and in mr. deed go to town and get so disgusted about the framing he get a delusional and mad by douglas dumbrille and his minion that he do not defend himself at first and until the people who would depend on his help cry out their fear in the courtroom and reawaken his sense of responsibility . but curtis just seem to give up . in normal circumstance raines and gomez and and everyone else would not care if curtis do not . but the film survive this weakness . the slow unraveling of lie by witness bribe by the real killer allow two set piece for raines with tombes on a desert elevated platform and elisha cook at a jazz session . gomez turn out to be more perceptive than the villain expect in double check his alibi again . and the villain manage to keep slightly ahead of raines and gomez until the conclude minute of the film . if it be not as great a film a double indemnity or the postman always ring twice or the maltese falcon and it hold up pretty well until the moment curtis and raines be reunite at the end .