The big bluff is John Bromfield, looking dashing yet untrustworthy with a pencil mustache. He loves a nightclub entertainer. They are both being hounded by her estranged husband. Untrustworthy is exactly how he sees Bromfield. Thankful that this is only seventy minutes, it is still a fairly intriguing, if implausible, noir.
The film, produced by Planet Filmplays and distributed by United Artists, (a match made in heaven) opens at the bedside of a rich widow, played by Martha Vickers, terminally ill with a heart condition. Her secretary and doctor, Robert Hutton, thinks it best not to tell her, feeling a positive outlook would be best for her. The doctor also suggests a move to a more remote part of Los Angeles for peace and quiet. The views from her window are spectacular if the smog ever clears. Hutton gives a rather comatose performance.
While dining out the secretary meets Bromfield who then learns about Vickers and her wealth. He wines and dines the rich widow and goes diabolical after learning of her health. They marry and he does his best to wear her down with late-night parties and physical activity. He replaces her medication with sodium bicarbonate in one pill container, keeping the real medicine to back up his vow to take care of her. He puts the "sin" in sincerity.
I found it annoying that Vickers acts like a schoolgirl, gushing over him every moment. But her secretary sees right through Bromfield’s phony behavior, especially after noticing two identical pillboxes. The doctor, along with a detective, tests the pills and confirms something is truly wrong with Bromfield.
As part of his diabolical plan, Bromfield suddenly becomes nasty to his wife, ranting and raving. This is simply a cover for him to storm off to Palm Springs, return and confess his intimate indiscretions. Inheritance is the only thing on his mind. To back up his story and his carefully planted evidence, his nightclub girlfriend dutifully drives to Palm Springs by herself. The fix is in. The last ten minutes are the reason to see the film through with a slick double-twist that will have your frown turned upside down.
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