An unemployed architect meets a married woman with a business proposition. The architect soon suspect her interest isn't just financial - and might be deadly.An unemployed architect meets a married woman with a business proposition. The architect soon suspect her interest isn't just financial - and might be deadly.An unemployed architect meets a married woman with a business proposition. The architect soon suspect her interest isn't just financial - and might be deadly.
Jeane Wood
- Mabel - Maid
- (as Jean Wood)
Fred Aldrich
- Suspicious Stranger
- (uncredited)
Forbes Murray
- Businessman
- (uncredited)
Bing Russell
- Bartender
- (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre
- Bar Patron
- (uncredited)
Bert Stevens
- Restaurant Patron
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe unusual convertible Doris Hillman (Dame Angela Lansbury) drove was a Kaiser Darrin. Only 435 production Darrins and six prototypes were built. Its entry doors slid on tracks into the front fender wells behind the front wheels, which was patented in 1946, had no side windows and a three-position Landau top. The car's only criticism by enthusiasts was the front grill, which looked like it "wanted to give you a kiss."
- GoofsIf the bartender who carded Madge had looked closer, he would have seen that it had to be a fake: Her address is listed as "Las Palmas St., Hollywood," but the street in Hollywood named Las Palmas is actually an avenue, and would be designated as such on an official document. Also, Las Palmas runs north and south, so the street number would also require a north or south designation.
- Quotes
Mabel, the maid: You better call out when you get to the guest house. Sometimes she swims in the nude.
Edward Shaw: Don't worry about it. So do I.
- SoundtracksSummer Interlude
Written by Hank McCune and Les Baxter
Featured review
Keith Andes Fascinates, Dominating This B/W Thriller--Unusual
It's no secret that many judge Keith Andes (by the criteria of ethical-emotional normativeness and acting prowess) to be the best actor of the past century. Because of studio politics and poor judgment--the presentation of merely pretty faces who looked good on posters as "stars"--he only played leads in fewer than 10 films; this is a very interesting one I suggest, for several reasons. Andes has been rediscovered by critics and film fans more often than Atlantis; with the exception of 2 "I Spy" episodes where they deliberately denied him the camera to set him up for a defection and future elimination, every part he ever played, by my evaluation, deserved a nomination for best actor at some length of film. Here he plays the interesting part of an architect in a B/W noir thriller. He gradually comes to believe he is going to be killed by his partners once he signs an insurance contract, ostensibly to protect their financial investment in his ability (that alone makes a new project of profitable building possible); and he is fascinating at every moment and professionally superb in a film that give him little to work with; he makes a charismatic triumph out of an underwritten cipher. Opposite him, Douglass Dumbrille is powerful as always as his backer's jealous husband, and Angle Lansbury is attractive bu no match for Andes as a siren who tempts and perhaps threatens him a the same time. As her sister, the interesting young Claudia Barrett does quite well. The serviceable direction by Paul Guilfoyle is taut, the script above average for a "B" B/W film of ant era. This is the sort of film which has seldom been made--a good piece of inexpensive storytelling carried by competent actors. But the focus is on Andes as he goes from boredom in a lonely room to temptation by Lansbury to the gradual realization that he is perhaps being set up for elimination. The violent climax is both surprising, satisfying and visually exciting; and the ending leaves viewers equally satisfied that Andes' character will receive justice, and that he has someone who genuinely cares for him. An underrated thriller that I can unreservedly recommend; I obtained it to see Andes. But this is a good story well told on screen, a true rarity when it was made, and especially in the years of badly acted and special-effects-dominated childish film-making that have been practiced since its mid-1950's release.
helpful•1911
- silverscreen888
- Jun 15, 2005
- How long is A Life at Stake?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 18 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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