Robert Mitchum was knocking it out of the park with noir in 1947: Pursued and now this, perhaps one of the greatest of all noirs. Like Double Indemnity it's got it all: a tough, cynical PI seduced by a femme fatale, caught in over his head, and uncovering double-crosses and plot twists until the end of the film. Mitchum starts out in a small suburban town working at a gas station when a man in hat and trench coat arrives looking for him. Mitchum is running from his past, having found a girlfriend in Virginia Huston. So he tells her all that happened with noir voiceover flashbacks.

The performances sizzle. A young Kirk Douglas is already a riveting screen presence as a charming and suave gangster. He tasks Mitchum with finding his wife (Jane Greer) who fled with his money. Mitchum and Greer fall in love, evade Douglas, and we believe their relationship genuine and a happy ending possible. There's no hint that she's hiding a darker persona with other agendas. There is murder, attempts to frame Mitchum, and layers of what's going on gradually peel back until the climax with Mitchum learning that Greer is out for her own selfish interests.

But Mitchum realizes he is damaged goods himself. He's meant for her and not the pure Virginia Huston, so he tricks Greer into a suicidal escape from the police. After she shoots Douglas, he pretends to run away with her. Unbeknownst to her, he called the cops who set up a barricade on a country road. When she notices the cops and realizes he ratted her out, she shoots him and Mitchum crashes into a police truck, both dying there in the crash.

At the end of the film, Virginia Huston is hesitant about marrying a local man who had his eye on her since they were kids. She's still in love with Mitchum and beseeches the deaf boy who worked at the gas station for advice. She wants the boy to be honest with her about whether Mitchum truly ran away with Greer. The boy looks pensive and "signs" yes. He is in effect lying for her own good so that she'll move on. Devastated and disgusted as she accepts the truth, she leaves for the arms of the local man. The deaf boy looks up at Mitchum's gas station—and possibly up to heaven—making a gesture as if telling Mitchum he did what was right. So we have noir with heart.