Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) has just escaped prison; he was incarcerated for murdering his wife. He is on the side of the road and must risk getting a lift. He waves down a car. The driver is a talker and becomes increasingly suspicious of his passenger. The radio report decides the issue. Parry pummels the driver and steals his clothes. Before he can abscond with the man's car, Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall) stops in her station wagon and urges Vincent to hide under the tarp in the back. Soon, they are back at her apartment in San Francisco and he is baffled why she has helped him. She had attended the trial and thought he was innocent. Thanks to some fortunate breaks, Vincent meets a plastic surgeon who offers to change his looks. After the surgery, Parry recuperates at Irene's apartment. Once the bandages are off, it's time to find out who really killed his wife.
The movie is awkward and the story doesn't flow well. First, Bogart doesn't "appear" for the first half. Either the scene is filmed from his point of view or his face is hidden in shadows. After the surgery, he is now in view, but his face is concealed by bandages. Next, there are the convenient and inconvenient meetings. That Parry finds the one cabby in all of San Francisco who has a plastic surgeon friend is just a bit hard to swallow. As far as suspects for his wife's murderer, there aren't many available from the characters we meet. Clifton Young is quite good as the blackmailer. Agnes Moorehead, whom I had only ever seen as Endora, Samantha's obnoxious mother on Bewitched, plays an annoying busybody who is determined to make sure everyone else is as unhappy as she is. It is a wonder any of the characters were on speaking terms with her. The level of paranoia is high. That Vincent thinks he is going to be arrested any moment is fine, but that a random police officer busts his chops over a stupid comment about the races was a bit much. That Irene sympathized with his plight was fine but falling for him was rushed. Maybe she had a crush on him since the trial, so she was primed to fall for him. Meh.
This is the weakest of the Bogart & Bacall movies.
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