Something of an oxymoron-a metaphysical film noir-Alias Nick Beal inserts the Devil himself into American politics where, curiously, he fits right in. Ray Milland is the smooth talking Temptor, alias Nick Beal, straight out of Marlowe (Christopher, not Philip) but updated with fedora, dapper suit and twentieth century suavity. He appears mysteriously in the life of a self-righteous D.A. to provide the missing evidence required to send a certain racketeer to the cooler, and the D.A. to the Governor's chair. Audrey Totter is a fitting Gretchen to our modern day Faust, but as in the Faust legend there is a dear price to pay for ambition fulfilled.