The American directorial debut of exiled Czechoslovak auteur Hugo Haas was based on a 1926 novel by Josef Kopta. Jan Horak (played by Hass himself), a railroad dispatcher working in a remote area, enters a marriage of convenience with a scheming blonde (Beverly Michaels). When Horak loses his hearing, a young man named Steve (Allan Nixon) is sent as his substitute. Bored with her isolated life, the wife seduces Steve, and together they plot to murder Horak. Unbeknownst to them, Horak has regained his hearing and now listens in on every sordid word spoken behind his back, including the plot to murder him.

No distributor initially showed interest in this independently produced erotic noir, made on a shoestring budget. That changed when Hollywood luminaries such as Gregory Peck and William Wyler saw the film and endorsed it. Harry Cohn acquired the rights, and the film’s success revived Haas’ career, leading him to make a series of similarly sinister crime melodramas about middle-aged men undone by dangerous blondes.