FOOTSTEPS IN THE NIGHT
US, 1957, 62 minutes, Black-and-white.
Bill Elliott, Don Haggerty, Eleanore Tanin, Douglas Dick, James Flavin.
Directed by Jean Yarborough.
Footsteps in the Night is both interesting and entertaining. In its short format, it is a precursor of so many television series and episodes – with Homicide on the door.
The film opens with a murder and the suspect running away. In fact, it is an interesting mystery with quite a twist. There have been many stories of “the wrong man�. This time the story is of the wrong victim.
Bill Elliott, often billed as Wild Bill Elliott, star of many action films and, especially, westerns, is in his last film for the cinema, reprising a character, Andy Doyle, a detective in several previous films. He is a strong presence, steady, shrewd, not without a touch of humour. Don Haggerty is his partner, more brash, willing to make bets against his partner in determining who is the killer and who is the victim.
This film spends quite an amount of time with Doyle interviewing suspects and witnesses.
Douglas Dick is the young man with a gambling addiction, including a scene in discussions with his psychiatrist and an explanation of the addiction, who is in love with a young librarian. The man living next door has amassed quite an amount of money in the bank, not marrying, working hard, but eager for playing cards, almost bullying the young man into playing. The victim is the man next door, strangled while the young man has gone into the kitchen to prepare a drink.
Among the witnesses are the proprietor of the motel, the mechanic who works at the local garage, looking after visitors’ cars. The screenplay doesn’t offer many possible suspects so the mechanic stands out – and, of course, he is the killer. However, there are two motels, Sunset Villa and Sunset Vista the killer has made a mistake, intending to rob a businessman. Doyle persuades the businessman to act as bait, not unhappy to do this because he will have something to talk about – and there is a climax with the police staking out the room and capturing the killer.
Not bad at all.
