Under John Huston's skilful direction, Richard Brooks' adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's stage success proves cinematic enough not to look like a play, and bristles with tension. The chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is as cogent as ever as hotel occupants virtually held hostage by gangsters, but it's the bad guys, notably snarling Edward G Robinson, back to his hateful best, and Claire Trevor, boozing and brazening her way to an Oscar as his mistress, who really catch the eye. Robinson happily accepted second billing to Bogart - his adversary in several past Warners' crime classics - to do the part of the gang boss at bay. 'Why not second billing? ' he told his agent. 'At 53 most actors are lucky to get billing at all.' The result is short-fused dynamite, right up to the moments when the film bursts into action in its fogbound climax.

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes