Dead Reckoning

When his best pal absconds on his way to pick up a Medal of Honour, "Rip" (Humphrey Bogart) determines to get to the bottom of things. They'd been flown home from Germany and given some fairly VIP treatment, so there must have been a good reason for "Johnny" (William Prince) to do a bunk - but he did leave some clues, and as "Rip" attempts to piece things together he encounters his pal's love interest "Dusty" (Lizabeth Scott). After scrutinising the local newspaper archives, he realises that his erstwhile colleague and this woman have a bit of history, and that takes them both to the casino of the distinctly dodgy "Martinelli" (Morris Carnovsky) where her behaviour becomes even more enigmatic. When he wakes up in an drug-induced haze next morning, he isn't sure who he can trust or just what is going on - but he is convinced that she and her jasmine are part of the mystery and it's solution. It's told by way of a narration to a priest in a church which doesn't do too much for the jeopardy of the thing, and I am afraid that Scott really did come across as Lauren Bacall-light the whole time. The plot twists and turns engagingly enough, but despite a grumpily charismatic effort from the star, the story is a bit thin and there is just too much dialogue and not enough action until a denouement that I found quite conveniently disappointing. Standard fayre that passes the time but this isn't really very memorable.