Time magazine’s film critic claims that this is the first true film noir and proceeds to list the elements it has to support his assertion. He provides brief biographical sketches of James M. Cain and several of the principal cast and crew members which gives us a historical perspective to what we are watching. Schickel also talks about the origins of noir, where the term came from and what inspired the genre to thrive in the ‘40s. This is an informative if somewhat dry track but well worth a listen nonetheless although, it's doubtful you'll want to listen to it again any time soon.

Dobbs points out that this film was made before the moniker of film noir became known. He informs us that, at the time, Cain’s novella and others of its kind were considered immoral and it was hard to get it green-lighted by any of the Hollywood studios. The two men compare Cain and Raymond Chandler, discussing their characteristics and differences, style of writing, and so on at great length. This is a much more engaging, analytical track with Dobbs tending to dominate in an entertaining fashion.