"Ask mother," says the message scrawled in lipstick at a murder scene, written by an unidentified serial killer who preys on women. It's a sensational story if it bleeds, it leads and a news conglomerate offers a big promotion to any high-level company exec who solves the case. So begins the wheeling, dealing and backstabbing of the competing media hotshots as they vie to unmask the so-called Lipstick Killer. Fritz Lang (The Big Heat), whose early career expressionist works would strongly influence the film-noir genre, directs this stylistically understated noir that features an abundance of starpower rare for the genre: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Ida Lupino and other notables. - Newsmen use reporter and women to find Lipstick Killer.