Audrey Totter pulls out all the stops portraying her ultimate “bad girl,” vile voluptuary Claire Quimby, in one of the most underrated noir films of the forties. Richard Basehart plays a milquetoast pharmacist married to the over-sexed and chronically unfaithful Claire. But this sad sack has a plan to get revenge, so he can start a new life with his knockout neighbor, Cyd Charisse! A murder plot ensues—but the victim isn’t who we expect. Cops Barry Sullivan and William Conrad smell a rat—but is Sullivan pursuing the truth or the red-hot Totter? Despite its credulity- stretching plot, Tension is a wholly satisfying thriller, laced with acid dialogue.