Art is the real mystery in this hallucinatory early noir, based on the prolific Fredric Brown's short story “Madman's Holiday,” one of dozens he published in 1943 alone. The “madman” in question is George Steele (Pat O'Brien, the face you can trust), an expert in art forgeries just back from the war. After inexplicably breaking into the Manhattan Museum, Steele loses his prized job as lecturer at said bastion of high culture. His reputation sullied, he must prove his innocence, which hinges on a highly suspect alibi. Hardened, Steele enlists his favored gal, Terry (Claire Trevor), and Lt. Cochrane (Wallace Ford), a sympathetic copper, to penetrate a conspiracy that envelops the museum and its pricey collection. A slightly convoluted script serves to keep our pudgy protagonist in a state of confusion as a fog of facts lifts to reveal hazier truth. But the truth will out when Steele downgrades the museum's canvases from A-List to F-for-Fake.