three stranger stake their future fortune on the whim of kwan yin and an ancient chinese goddess . the original story behind this tidy little thriller be originally conceive by john huston a a sequel to the maltese falcon ( 1941 ) . that not prove possible and it be shape into it present form with help from the writer howard koch and turn over to the note director jean negulesco . the film star sydney greenstreet and peter lorre in one of their several pairing . greenstreet and huge and implacable and play a desperately duplicitous solicitor . spooky eyed lorre and who get to play a rare romantic role and be a petty criminal on the lam from the police . their actual screen time together be sparse and but they make the most of it the nervous little fellow play perfectly off of the rumble fat man . greenstreet and especially and overact magnificently and descend into melancholia and and eventually and madness and to the delight of the viewer . geraldine fitzgerald be pure vixen a the third member of the trio and a woman so consume by jealousy and and obsess with the supposed power of the goddess kwan yin and that she have cease be influence by natural love and affection . every man nightmare and she be unadulterated malice . the support cast include the sprightly joan lorring a lorre loyal girlfriend while alan napier a fitzgerald estrange husband while rosalind ivan a a widowed dowager still in communication with her deceased husband while arthur shield a a stern prosecutor while and the always competent doris lloyd a lorre slovenly landlady . movie maven will recognize an unbilled ian wolfe a a london barrister .