As for T.H.'s mention of "the sci fi angle": I just watched a few minutes of the film commentary, it's with Glenn Erickson of DVD Savant and Stanley Rubin, who wrote the story for the film. Rubin says that he actually read about Methylene Blue in a magazine, it was a real thing that could counteract certain poisons. (They eventually stopped making it cuz it would turn people's piss green and their tears blue or something like that!) Of course, the film takes significant liberties in depicting how Methylene Blue was administered (for one, in order to be effective, it would have to be administered long before it was done in the film!), but it was actually based on a real product so I don't know if should be considered sci-fi. Sorry if that ruins the film for you
(If you want to know more about it you can watch the film commentary; I only watched the first few minutes of it; this discussion comes up early in the commentary).
----
I saw the movie on the Warner dvd; it's a double feature along with
Crime Wave (1954). Both films are IMO the sort that would appeal to a hardcore noir fan; I am surprised that cj gave it such a low rating.
(Much of my discussion here is courtesy of what they say on the special features documentary on the dvd, and the few minutes of film commentary I saw).
Apparently this film was insanely violent for 1946, and one of the rare noirs in which the femme fatale has absolutely zero redeeming value whatsoever, and has absolutely zero interest in any man or anything whatsoever besides the money. There are many femmes fatale who will do anything for money, including commit violence and double crosses, etc., but they actually do show some care for a guy or something. It's rare to have one as purely evil as Gillie is here.
I give lots of credit to the wardrobe people on this movie: Gillie was not a pretty woman, but she actually looks enticing, and therefore you believe that these men would do anything for her, with some really hot shoes, skirts that do a real good job of showing her great legs, and this
brilliantly-cut dress that she wears on the big fateful night that takes up about half of the movie. (One exception to the great clothes: she wears some awful hats, including some fur ones, that may be expensive but look absolutely atrocious, but thankfully those scenes with the hats are basically all done in the earlier part of the movie)
For the sort of greedy femmes fatale that can drive a man crazy and make him to engage in self-destructive behavior against his better judgment, it is absolutely crucial that she be convincingly enticing; and this movie does as good a job as can be done in that regard with a woman that is not pretty. Oh, and the English accent doesn't hurt
Sadly, Gillie died of pneumonia only 3 years after this movie was made, at the age of 33
Author