Ripe and juicy melodrama later recycled as Broken Lance; Edward G Robinson has a ball playing an Italian banker whose hammy bonhomie conceals a ruthless prick; Richard Conte’s great as his hardboiled son; Luther Adler’s a brilliant ball of slimy treachery. Susan Hayward, as always, expends a lot of energy for no good effect.
Joe Mankiewicz directed, and revised Phillip Yordan’s script, obvious in lines like “In Old World, boy and girl get engaged, after one year, two year, they get tired of each-other, then they get married.” Some extremely nifty location shooting anticipates Lumet, Cassavettes, Scorsese, and the finale’s a nailbiter.
