I think I missed a chunk of the beginning, though I definitely saw the MGM lion, so I'm not quite sure what happened to the recording. But what I saw is top tier nihilistic revenge thriller tearing through a series of alternately gorgeous and ugly Antonioniesque cityscapes. Michael Caine kills it with this quiet storm angel of death type character and Hodges milks the environment for all its worth. A distinct product of its time, but this is what neonoir should be.
Not as sordid or bleak as I'd hoped for a movie about the mystery behind the skeletal remains of a pregnant b-girl, but at least we're treated to Ricardo Montalban's disconcertingly charming grin whenever he uncovers some new unpleasant detail about his corpse. He does a subtle job transitioning his character from indefatigable optimist to at least a somewhat more drained and cynical detective. Other than Alton's underexposed cinematography Montalban's charisma was the biggest attraction to me, though most people point to Elsa Lancaster's performance as the standout. Like many procedural noirs it gets less interesting as it nears its inevitable ending but it's not a bad entry in the catalogue.
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