This noirish 1946 feature was efficiently directed by Jean Negulesco, but the real auteur is John Huston, whose script (with Howard Koch) was one of many partial spin-offs from his career-making The Maltese Falcon. (The dark icon this time represents a Chinese goddess.) Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and Geraldine Fitzgerald are the title trio, who wind up sharing a sweepstakes ticket in prewar London, their destinies governed by Huston’s misanthropic gallows humor and cruel sense of irony. 92 min. (JR)