Cagey swindler Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark as one of noir's most subversive antiheroes) aspires to make his mark as a promoter despite his nightclub singer girlfriend Mary Bristol (Gene Tierney) urging him to get a straight gig. Trailed by a slippery history of dead-end schemes, he stumbles upon legendary wrestler Gregorius the Great (played by retired legendary wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko)-conning the wrestler into believing he can successfully promote the spectacular Greco-Roman contests Gregorius was once known for. But favorable outcomes can be bought in this interconnected syndicate of breakable contracts, unfathomable corruption, and disposable men-and naïve Fabian jeopardizes his own life with a foolhardy game plan that threatens a valuable family legacy. At the urging of 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, director Jules Dassin exported this assignment to London just as he was being blacklisted stateside.—Mae Moreno