Criss Cross (1949)

Steve returns home to L.A. after spending a couple of years trying unsuccessfully to forget his ex-wife. Though she's now unhappily entangled with the local mob boss, Steve's got a plan. From the first bit of rushed and desperate dialogue, it's clear that we're being dropped right in the middle of things and that's just fine. The script doesn't bother holding our hand to make sure we're up to speed, it just trusts that we'll catch up.

This runs fewer than 90 minutes, but it's stuffed to bursting with story and simply gorgeous shots. I was wowed at least a dozen times by the pure art on screen. 

B+