Barbara Stanwyck (Sorry, Wrong Number, Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve) has one of her best roles as an ambitious, scheming woman in director Lewis Milestone's great noir mystery. Young Martha Ivers' dominating aunt (Judith Anderson) met her death at the bottom of the staircase in her mansion, but was it really a drifter who killed her? Van Heflin matches Stanwyck's bravura performance as a man whose return to Iverstown exposes many closely-guarded secrets, deceptions and lies. Screenplay by Robert Rossen, who went on to direct All the King's Men and The Hustler.