dire . this hard boil crime melodrama be about contract killing and it trace and rather naively i thought and the genesis of the whole enterprise and be say to be base on fact . it distinguish slightly by the use of flashback within flashback and by some fine and moody cinematography by robert burk but and with the exception of bogart and ( and even he be play well below par ) and it be appallingly act . still and sometimes a bad performance can be even more memorable than a good one and in this respect ted de corsia squealer end up steal the film . on the other hand and both zero mostel and everett sloane probably reach a career nadir here . a for the direction of bretaigne windust and it perfunctory at best . inhabit a vacuum somewhere between the house on 42nd street and the phenix city story and the film be neither fish nor fowl and ( it mostly foul ) . miss opportunity all round .