Scene of the Crime is admired in some circles as a tough noir-ish excursion, but it's really little more than a standard police procedural. It's entertaining, mind you, but there's really nothing about it that raises it above the ordinary, certainly not to anyone raised on decades of police dramas on television. Indeed, so much of Scene is stuff that we've seen before, many times over, that it gets a tad boring. What gives Scene some interest is its cast. Van Johnson is cast against type, and while it sometimes seems a little odd to hear some of the dialogue coming out of a person we're accustomed to being an amiable and genial sort, he actually does quite well. Even better is Gloria De Haven, also cast against type, as the treacherous moll. De Haven is so good it makes you wonder why she didn't play this type more often. Arlene Dahl. On the other hand, is fairly unimpressive dramatically, but she's such an eye-full that many won't care about that. Roy Rowland's direction is fine, if not great. Modern audiences will find Scene familiar, but fans of crime thrillers may still get a kick out of it.