Watch Footsteps in the Dark For Free

Undescribable Perfection

Memorable, crazy movie

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

. . . for an hour and a half during FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK. This flick is structured pretty much as a spoof of THE MALTESE FALCON, but short-sighted set decorators forgot to include an iconic prop which could be auctioned off for millions 75 years later. No harm done, since if you pro-rate the enduring entertainment value of FOOTSTEPS against that of FALCON, a hypothetical objective correlative for FOOTSTEPS might go for about 59 cents at the final gavel at Bonham's today. Mr. Flynn looks somewhat lost without his sword, and one glance at co-star Brenda Marshall is enough to see why the prop people "kept it real" by placing her and husband DON JUAN in twin beds. It's too bad Lucile Watson, who plays Flynn's live-in mother-in-law Agatha, wasn't around to take a similar role in TV's BEWITCHED a couple decades later--Ms. Watson makes a far better nag than Agnes Moorehead. Maybe you can only get away with James Cagney's grapefruit scene once in Tinsel Town, but Flynn Coulda-been-a-contender for PUBLIC ENEMY, JUNIOR, if he'd ad-libbed a Double Grapefruit during FOOTSTEP's breakfast episode.

"Zorro" detective style meets the "Thin Man" franchise in this unbelievably bland crime comedy with broad farcical humour that's not funny and a weak murder mystery that's not thrilling.Flynn vehicles are often silly, but seldom boring. This dud is both. Were it not for the last half hour which is, at least, a little speedier and for the still personable cast, this instantly forgettable by-product would be without any merit. It's evident Warner Bros. just wanted to make a fast buck!Even Alan Hale looks tired!3 out of 10 idiotic aliases

Footsteps in the Dark is the title of a mystery novel that investment banker Errol Flynn wrote under a pseudonym that has become a best seller. Unfortunately he used as characters some of his wife Brenda Marshall and mother-in-law Lucille Watson's society friends and they'd like to sue the author if they can find him.Errol while trying to see they don't find out what his double life is gets himself involved in another murder of Noel Madison who wanted Flynn to essentially launder the money from some stolen jewels in his banker self. Flynn spends over 90 minutes struggling to keep his identities secret from those who know him in one guise or the other and solve the mystery at the same time. The only two who know about his masquerade are his chauffeur Allen Jenkins and his lawyer Grant Mitchell.Flynn had a very good gift for comedy, he had already done The Perfect Specimen and Four's A Crowd and had gotten good reviews. Footsteps in the Dark was an effort by Warner Brothers to cash in on the popularity and success MGM was enjoying with The Thin Man series. Flynn and Marshall were good together though there was no further sequels.Best in the film by far is William Frawley as one truly dumb detective that even his superior Alan Hale is frustrated with. Flynn bounces some great lines off Frawley.It's a different Errol Flynn than normal and not a bad one.

Errol Flynn is a very underrated actor when it comes to comedy. People just see him as a swashbuckler, dashing action hero. Not as a actor who could do any role from any type of genre. In Footsteps in the Dark he's very amusing and witty in his role as a person who lives a double life. In the day he's a insurance investigator, who goes by the name of Francis Warren and to his lovely wife a man who spends late nights at representative meetings. But in reality by night he's a crime solver/ murder investigator who what he sees he writes into his novels, and his latest book called by the same name of the film has raised eyebrows all over town and everyone is wondering who is this F.X. Pettijohn. When Francis' wife finds out the truth the sparks really begin to fly. Errol Flynn is absolutely hilarious in this role and Alan Hale, Brenda Marshall, William Frawley, and Ralph Bellamy do a fine job in backing up Errol. The movie has a lot of funny moments. Some of these include how Francis explains his way out of a jam with his wife and mother in-law. Others include Francis portrayal as a rich Texan named Tex, who Errol Flynn plays with a hick accent and an amusing cowboy walk, which can't be missed. Absolutely funny, it had me in tears. There is wrong thing though that i don't like about the film, and that is it's lack of crime solving clues and interrogation of suspects. It's not like Charlie Chan with it's clever crime solving. Their are a couple of clues here and there, but nothing clever though. Still the film is very delightful to watch and funny and I think it's much more entertaining to watch then other the Errol/ Brenda film they did together the year before this, The Sea Hawk. **1/2 out of ****