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Barbara Stanwyck is a force of nature as the ruthless Martha Ivers – a wealthy businesswoman married to an alcoholic district attorney (Kirk Douglas in his screen debut), who is the only person who knows about Martha's teenage murder of her aunt. The unrequited love of Douglas's D.A. grows fiercer when a drifter (Van Heflin) rolls in to town and unlocks some dormant passion in Martha. Director Lewis Milestone pushes the tortured psyches of his characters to the brink in this meaty thriller.