An exotic underworld atmosphere is evoked from San Francisco and Los Angeles locales in this early noir, based on a Graham Greene thriller and important in establishing a number of the genre conventions. Alan Ladd is Raven, a mad young assassin whose milk of human kindness is reserved for stray cats; Veronica Lake is the bad girl whose good side leads Raven to his downfall and (speaking of Dostoevsky) redemption. Ladd gives Raven a psychological posture--alienation is the monkey on his back--and he is supported by a cast of stylishly neurotic figures, notably Laird Cregar as an unctuous cabaret owner. The skillfully done chase scene through the freight yards on a foggy night alone makes this definitive forties noir.