Opening in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Dick Powell is an insurance agent who is weary of his predictable life template. He and his wife, Jane Wyatt, trade humorous quips and verbal jabs in the early going as many couples might do. A son completes the family album. When he begins investigating an embezzlement case this typical family man soon changes to a life of secrets and danger and all humor is gradually abandoned. The plot of this B-movie suggests that the average family is not immune to a disruption of marital bliss.
Powell is to recover some expensive gifts given to Lizabeth Scott by her boyfriend embezzler who's serving time in prison. With no particular place to go, they end up spending the day on her speedboat gift which becomes the catalyst for Hank Panky. Powell is in a business suit with a fedora that stays put without chin straps.---the miracle of projected backscreen scenery. For me, Scott falls into the Lauren Bacall category of actresses who are not classic beauties but have a niche appeal. Not sure if it was a speech impediment or she was born with bad dental development, but her lip snarls on her right side and her pronounced “esses” are especially annoying when whispering, resembling someone with a serious overbite. Nothing attractive or sultry about this.
Raymond Burr is cast this time as a private detective working for Powell and the insurance company. True to form, however, one soon learns he is once again a bit psychotic with his obsession over Scott. He wants her all to himself. In probably the largest suit in show business, he tails Powell and pummels him good. Scott wanting to help and knowing Powell’s home address, spots Wyatt at the door from curbside, and yells, "I must have the wrong address." Awkward.
As the day of her jailbird lover's release from prison approaches, Scott fears for her safety. Powell is beginning to see the errors of his ways and longs for the days before he got involved with her. He has had enough of Burr as well and gives him a bit of his own medicine. Burr tells the jealous jailbird about him and he attempts to kill Powell in his darkened study. However, Powell permanently removes any chance of him ever serving additional prison time. Confident all competition has been eliminated, Burr expects Scott to go away with him. Instead, she puts him in the hospital.
Powell gives a full confession to the police department but a tougher confession is forthcoming for Wyatt. She reluctantly gives him a second chance but is not sure their relationship will ever be the same. No definitive outcomes are revealed and those are left to the viewer’s imagination. At best, a shaky happy ending.
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