Wordiezett So much average

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

SimonJack "Footsteps in the Dark" should be a very good comedy crime film. Yet, it is just fair at best. One can't quite put a finger on what keeps it from being a very funny and intriguing film. The plot idea is a good one – and it has been done before, with an alias fiction writer and a sleuth. Indeed, audiences like that sort of thing – witness the 13-season long TV series, "Murder, She Wrote," that starred Angela Lansbury from 1984 through 1996. But things just don't click well in this movie. I think the culprit is not one thing but many smaller things that combine to give it a sort of "ho-hum" effect. Errol Flynn's Francis Warren has the usual energy of a Flynn character. Allen Jenkins is OK as his man of all trades, Wilfred. Brenda Marshall is fine in her small part as Rita Warren, Flynn's wife. And Lee Patrick is quite good as Blondie White. But the rest of the cast aren't very convincing. Alan Hale has a large role as inspector Mason, and he's just too affable and easy going a character. He comes across as sweet as syrup at times, so that role should have had some bite in it. William Frawley is overboard as the doofus Hopkins. Ralph Bellamy seems a little too smooth and eager. The rest just aren't very good. The screenplay seems to misfire at times. The dialog between characters, especially Francis and Mason, switches between the straight and the absurd at times. It's very awkward. The writers pepper the script with occasional lines that are supposed to be funny but that seem, more than anything, to be out of place. This is the type of film that would fit William Powell or Fred MacMurray perfectly. They would have been able to make more out of this screenplay than does Error Flynn here. But even they would have had troubles with the script. This is just a fair film at best. There aren't many witty or clever lines of dialog. Here are my favorite two. For a few more, look under the Quotes section of this IMDb Web page on the movie. Francis, "What're you doing here?" Hopkins, "We ask the questions." Francis, "OK, how long have you been here?" Inspector Mason, "You wouldn't by any chance be insulting me would you?" Francis, "Oh, no, I was just being philosophic." Hopkins, "Oh, so that's your racket, huh?"

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . 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.

Michael O'Keefe That dashing Errol Flynn plays Francis Monroe Warren II, an upper-crust investment counselor that lives a double life away from his high society...rubbing elbows with the police and secretly writing crime novels under a pseudonym. His recent book Footsteps in the Dark, seems to be ruffling the feathers of the elite; and his own mother hires someone to try and find out who is doing this writing. His wife(Brenda Marshall)thinks he spends a lot of time at night at stuffy board meetings; while he is actually investigating current crimes and trying to debunk the theories of local police. Francis even becomes the subject of interest in a murder over a fortune in jewels. The pace is brisk and you have to be quick to catch some of the humor. In support are: Alan Hale, William Frawley, Roscoe Karns, Lee Patrick and Lucile Watson.

Rindiana "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