Crime reporter Mike Reese (Dan Duryea) has a nose for news and an eager hand under the table in return for spinning the truth in favor of moneyed perps. But after he tries to cash in on a story involving a maid accused of a society murder, Reese ultimately finds the courage to reveal the truth and make amends for his tainted past. One of this noirish film's lines of dialogue refers to ancestral witch burnings. Intentionally or not, the line underscores the imminent blacklisting of The Underworld Story's costar Howard da Silva plus the director and the screenwriter. The intriguing story is by Craig Rice, the famed female mystery writer of the 1940s and '50s who was the cover-story subject of Time's January 28, 1946 issue.