This film noir/crime thriller is unusual in it's depiction of life and crime in Stockholm during the 50's. The dark, semi documentary style,reminds the viewer of classic American film noir such as The Naked City (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Kiss Me Deadly (1955)etc.
Whether these films served as an inspiration(especially The Naked City )is hard to tell but similarities are there.
Even by todays standards this film is well made and also hints at more sharper type of criticism against the Swedish society that is rarely seen in Swedish crime film, and when looking at newly made crimefilms this film stands out.
The film depicts the murder of young woman, told in flashbacks, of dubious and mysterious past, she has few friends who hardly knew her.
But police investigation slowly unfolds a her dark past, and starts circling around a prime suspect.
There are some notable performances here; Berit Frodi as the murder victim, Torsten Lilliecrona as the one of the police officers investigating the murder, Alf Kjellin, Bengt Blomgren and of course Stig Järrel.
Torsten Lilliecrona is mostly famous in Sweden for a wellknown Swedish children's program Vi på Saltkråkan, were he played Uncle Melker a very nice older gentleman. It comes a bit of a chock seeing Lilliecrona doing a tough, smoking, inner city cop looking for a stone cold killer.
Stig Järrel plays as he did many times before a creepy sleazebag, too bad it's just a supporting part but well played.
Alf Kjellin plays an even more creepy character but his acting is very convincing which makes the audience feel sympathy for him. Kjellin would later go to USA and work as an director, actor, mainly doing TV work.
Berit Frodi as the main focus of the film is very good, there are some scenes that reminds of Vivien Leighs performance in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). According to IMDb she made only a handful films and then later disappeared.
Oddly enough, this film doesn't get that much attention these days, it should be given an Criterion DVD treatment so more people could see it.
The harshness, the dark subject matter, Stockholm underworld filled with losers and criminals makes this film somewhat of an Swedish crime classic.
