"Most of the action takes place in the Janoth building, a New York mammoth publishing company headed by a wobbling, lecherous boss (played as a psychotic old baby by Charles Laughton).... When Janoth murders his mistress...he is forced to engage the resources of his organization to track down the one witness to his guilt.... Ironically, the magazine editor (Ray Milland) sent to head the investigation is himself the witness.... Every part is ideally cast, from Rita Johnson's wry mistress to Elsa Lanchester's gurgling Greenwich Village artist.... Above all, the giant clock which dominates the proceedings--nerve center of the Janoth organization...with its endlessly ticking dials, pulsing dynamo, and gliding levers...reminds one of the heart of Metropolis...." Charles Higham, Joel Greenberg, Hollywood in the Forties