Cast against type, Joan Fontaine plays the scheming Christabel Caine with a smirk that suggests the men she manipulates should be happy to be duped by such a hottie. Christabel swishes in from the sticks to her cousin's San Francisco digs, and efficiently steals her hostess's millionaire fiancé. But novelist Nick Bradley (Robert Ryan) manages to snatch Christabel's ice-cold heart. Nick represents art and authenticity to Christabel's intrigue and artifice, and soon she is torn between her luxe life and his hardscrabble virility. Nick is clearly a match for Christabel's every connivance. Will Christabel be crucified? Ray seems an unlikely director for this sardonic melodrama with its Laura-like touches, but he loads it with enough mean sheen-the dresses and decor are deluxe-to make it immensely enjoyable.