first and i must point out that the role wendell corey play be exceptional . usually and corey be relegate to support role but here he be what help carry this very limp film . without him and the character he play and the film would have be a lot bad hardly merit a 2 or 3. so why do i hate the rest of the film so much . well and one of my pet peeve be when character act too stupid to live . you can not base major plot point on the assumption that your major character be completely stupid ( unless have a brain injury be part of the plot and of course ) . but this be exactly what happen in this film . wendell corey be a crazed man who have murder three innocent people and they know his next target be joseph cotten wife . so what do they do . yep and they provide really inadequate police protection and a plan that make no sense at all ( no marksman and guy with shotgun that be so far away they probably wont stop this madman ) . and if this isn not bad enough and the marked woman inexplicably run away from her hide place and walk right into the bad possible place she could be . be anyone that stupid . arrrggghhhh i hate when movie have such dumb character . in fact and i find myself root for corey since i felt the idiot deserve to die for their behavior . in addition to these clichéd character and there be also a bit player who faint . sure and see your husband shot might cause someone to faint and however in real life this be a rare occurrence people rarely faint unless there be a medical reason . so and combine this with the above character problem be a real nightmare for people who be look for realism something film noir movie must have . all these serious problem be even more infuriating since wendell corey character be amazingly well write and conceive . it be his chance to shine a an actor too bad the rest of the movie be so limp that corey and the basic plot idea be sink . this be one film that could really use a remake but this time without brainless character .