The seething misogyny hovering around Orson Welles' confused, ominous noir simply begs you to read the film as a visualisation of his malfunctioning marriage to co-star Rita Hayworth. Chomping on his accent, Welles' Irish drifter finds himself ensnared in a mesh of lust, murder and betrayal by Mrs Bannister (Hayworth, whose famous red locks are hacked off and dyed blonde), the seductive wife of a crippled lawyer. Jumbled by its director's indulgence and the studio's butchers, the film's murky plot eventually gives way to some fascinating visual set-pieces: the kissing scene set in an aquarium and the climactic hall-of-mirrors shoot-out... They're up there with the darkest imaginings of Welles' genius.

DVD Extras:

A busy critic even before he helmed '70s classic The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich spends the first half of his commentary reciting portions of an intimate interview he conducted with Welles. And once Boggy gives up on his Orson accent, it's a great ear-tingler: educated, anecdotal and - this being Welles - enigmatic. There's also a fairly redundant featurette, Bogdanovich rehashing a few witterings from the yak-track.