“Out of this world! That’s where I’m going. That’s where you all ought to go!” This exhortation, shouted to nearby New Yorkers by a suicidal blond from a window ledge, introduces the story of Anthony Mann’s Dr. Broadway, an early, inconsistent noir that is mostly interesting for its status as Mann’s debut feature (it offers plentiful glimpses of his future masterworks). It turns out actress Connie Madigan (Jean Phillips) isn’t suicidal at all but doing a PR stunt to land a big part, and though she doesn’t land the part, she does land a doctor, Timothy Kane (Macdonald Carey) aka “Dr. Broadway,” who was called by police to coax the actress off the ledge. Meanwhile, gangster Vic Telli (Eduardo Ciannelli), who was convicted years ago by the doctor’s testimony, has just been released from prison and tracks down Kane not to exact revenge but to ask him a favor: find his long-lost daughter so he can leave her an inheritance before he dies. These two storylines are connected clumsily, and some viewers will find several characters, Connie especially, to be completely unnecessary, but Mann fans will notice dozens of sophisticated visuals (pans, tracking shots, deep focus, close-ups, classic noir shots like the flashing neon sign outside a dark city window) that the story almost doesn’t deserve. Shot in 20 days, the film’s low budget is often disguised by Mann’s innovation and Paramount’s commitment to production quality, even for B films. The cast is fine but unmemorable (Carey was seen by some as an accidental leading man), the standout being the fantastic Ciannelli, whose performance as a dying gangster is thrilling but far too brief.