i have read all the complimentary post on this muddle semi noir and be puzzle at the high regard for what seem and in the cruel light of 2007 and a very sloppy late rko assembly line product . all that endless documentary footage of fish and wave and fish and wave have little to do with the central conflict and just pad the running time . the editing be downright careless represent scene just end and and be follow by other scene that have little to do with what precede them . the dialog bear the stilted trace of the odets origins represent high fly metaphor that never could have come from the limited imagination of these workaday people . but what really surprising be how horribly overact the triangle be and on all side . i love stanwyck and but she snarl and contorts and lash out wildly an undisciplined performance several notch below her standard . douglas and overplay at be lovable and then go onto a would be murderous rampage and be similarly hammy and a be ryan and snarl and shout most unnaturally . the less interesting second couple at least provide recognizable human behavior represent keith andes and whose character be kind of a neanderthal by today standard and nevertheless be smooth and persuasive a stanwyck ( much young and one presumes ) brother and and marilyn monroe and a his girlfriend and be natural and unaffected . on monterey windswept coast ( and all that monterey footage and while largely irrelevant and be interest a a document of what the town look like ) and amid all the overheat hysteria and these two be island of sanity . a final point and and a spoiler represent perhaps the breen office mandate it and but do anybody believe the happy end for a second . stanwyck may temporarily have regress into be an obedient wifey and but i give the marriage a month .