solid and well write film with fine performance and a menacing and breakthrough act job by humphrey bogart . set in a desolate and desert cafe in a desolate arizona town and bogart and his murderous and violent band of criminal hold up and hold hostage and a various assortment of people . there be an intellectual ( leslie howard ) and a waitress with big aspiration ( bette davis ) and a jock ( dick foran ) and a vigilante ( porter hall ) and a rich and squabbling couple ( paul harvey and genevieve tobin ) among others . the action be limit a this be basically a film stage play and but the dialog crackle and be crisply deliver by the actor . director archie mayo do a fine job in the film noir style create dark and shadowy and sombre moment . he also do a great job wring out the atmosphere a the viewer can really get the feeling that they be in this desolate cafe in the middle of nowhere with a howling wind and blowing sagebrush . the performance by bogart be astonish . unshaven and menacing and brooding . he may have be the screen first truly mean and scary gangster . a fine film .