A 1951 film noir involving a lengthy grift being pulled on a rich couple. Lizabeth Scott starts the film off looking for a particular military man who's fallen off the grid who was aces as a soldier but his demeanor left something to be desired. Tracking the man down, played by Edmund O'Brien, at a bingo hall, Scott entices him w/the long con; an elderly married couple (who's wife is in a bad way) had lost their son & although presumed dead they hold out hope he may turn up whereby he'll leave him 10 million dollars in his will which Scott & her partner, played by Alexander Knox, will then split. The first hurdle, which O'Brien agrees to, is to chop off a part of one of his fingers (which he does when Scott slams a car door on it!) since the boy had this happen to him when he was younger & then settle into the machinations of the game, meeting the parents & laying out the possibly excruciatingly long stretch to see if the caper will come through w/O'Brien sticking around since he & Scott have connected romantically while Knox (revealed to be the couple's lawyer) bides his time waiting in the wings. I never bought the hook for this film & frankly O'Brien isn't quite convinced as well as his determination to complete the deal starts to waffle towards the film's end leaving the viewer w/a perplexed 'huh' on their face as we see if this long bet will pay out.
Review of Two of a Kind
