Desperate

Mann is not accidentally granted the right to use the picture. Along with Dorothy Atlas, he wrote a 66-page story for a film called "Flight", spending not more than five days. In may 1946 Mann gave the history on the Studio RKO. According to him, "the people in charge at RKO immediately showed interest in her and offered $ 5,000 for a preliminary version of the script." However, Mann said he would give away a story for free if the Studio appointed him the Director of the film. Originally the Studio was against it, but later for some unknown reason, changed the point of view and appointed Mann the Director.

The picture was shot in 27 days in the period between 21 November and 23 December 1946 with a budget of $ 234,635. Mann's salary as a Director was reduced from 4375 to $ 3,500. As noted by Alvarez, the adjustment of the budget of the film downward confirms the theory that black-and-white crime movies, the style became more dark and gloomy due to the reduction of production costs. In particular, this film was initially planned to light 14 thousand dollars was reduced to 10 thousand.

Within the 25-day shooting schedule of 20 days was given to shooting in the Studio, and the 4 — by shooting at a local nature, one day was paid weekends. In reality, the shooting was completed 3 days late of schedule, which was a serious, but fairly common violation for low-budget films in that period. The more serious circumstance was a waste of film 28 per cent, giving a ratio of flow rate of the film 1 to 15 (of 95 thousand feet of footage in the film includes 6,5 thousand feet). However, Mann overruns film been seen before.

The shooting took place at the ranch Studio of RKO Encino, and the scene of a robbery of furs was shot directly at the warehouse outlets. Technically the most difficult was the climax in the final picture, which became "a triumph of cinematic craftsmanship." So, Steve's confrontation with two thugs in his apartment shows alternating frames taken from eleven carefully calculated points and the exposure of the mounted material is enhanced by synchronized disturbing the ticking of the clock and music. And the final clash on the stairs between Steve and Walt became "a masterpiece of expressionism", utilizing 13 views in 2 minutes and 21 seconds of screen time.