Night Editor (1946)

Night Editor (1946), directed by Henry Levin.

A homicide detective should be a happy family man, but he's spending every night with thrill-seeking rich girl Janis Carter. When they witness a murder he can't report it without revealing his infidelity. Wouldn't you know he'd be assigned to the case?

On the same disc as One Girl's Confession (1953) in the "Bad Girls of Film Noir" set. Minor thrillers, both have improbably sweet endings. I rented the disc because I wanted to see more of Janis Carter, last seen in The Woman on Pier 13 (1949). She's in just the first title here.

Carter is a one-dimensional femme fatale, but a real piece of work. When told that the dead woman had her brains bashed out with a tire iron, she gets hot and excited and screams "I want to see her! I want to look at her!" Bad news as she is, the detective can't back away, even when she's holding an ice pick.

It has potential, but Carter's is the only vivid character.