Edgar G. Ulmer directed this B-movie film noir masterpiece about a New York pianist who hitchhikes west to join his aspiring actress girlfriend. He gets a ride with gambler who dies naturally en route. The pianist panics, takes the gambler's car, identity and money and drives on, only to pick up a woman hitchhiker who turns out to have previously hitchhiked with the gambler, and realizes that the pianist is not who he is pretending to be.