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Ever wonder what happened after Anna walked past Holly Martins in the final shot of the 1949 masterpiece The Third Man? Well, apparently, Holly followed her and broke her legs...

In Walk Softly, Stranger, Joseph Cotten plays a crook who assumes a new identity in a small town in order to start a new life. Gangsters whom he robbed are after him, and with the money he stole he believes that he can live a peaceful life. In this town, he meets a young paraplegic woman played by Valli. She was also a gambler, but her wild days were over after she took a tragic spill while skiing. The two begin to fall in love. It's probably the only time a disabled character ever had a major role as a love interest in classical Hollywood. Heck, if someone were to play the same role today, she'd probably win an Oscar! Soon, Cotten's old partner turns up in the town broke, begging for more money. He accidentally let spies track him.

The film is very low-key. In fact, it may be too low-key. The romance between Cotten and Valli is effective. It's difficult to know whether or not he is just taking her for a ride for a long time (she's wealthy). The dialogue is sometimes quite clever (and, then again, it's also sometimes too clever). It's the crime part of the picture that's particularly pedestrian. And the end is kind of lame. All in all, it's only 80 minutes long, and it's entertaining enough to maybe sustain that. Valli and Cotten were so much better in The Third Man, but fans of that film might delight in seeing the two as a couple here. Still, with the way that The Third Man ends, it's actually a little disappointing seeing the two actors on screen. The final scene of that film should have been the final word. 6/10.

Joseph Cotten stars in "Walk Softly, Stranger," a 1950 film also starring Valli, Paul Stewart and Spring Byington. Cotten plays Chris Hale, a con man who takes up residence in a small town under his new name. He has a sweet landlady (Byington) who loves him, a decent job and is enjoying a flirtation with the boss' wheelchair-bound daughter (Valli). However, he just can't resist one more opportunity to make a huge haul by stealing a gambler's money with a partner (Stewart). After they split the money, the two go their separate ways, but Stewart panics and tracks down Chris. Chris is afraid he's led the gambler's men right to his door.

This is a small, engrossing film with an excellent performance from Cotten. Someone on the board compared him here to Uncle Charle in "Shadow of a Doubt," but Charlie was a murderer, which Chris is not, and also a psychotic, again, which Chris is not. Cotten is extremely likable as Chris, a basically good man who has a fatal flaw of liking fast, easy money. Valli is okay as the boss' daughter - she's not quite as beautiful as she was in "The Paradine Case," but she's still soulful with that aura of misery. That quality made many think she could be a new Garbo. Despite doing some good, high profile films, she returned to Italy shortly after this film and worked steadily until a few years before her death. To say she seems out of place in this small town is an understatement.

You really pull for Chris all the way through the film. Maybe the ending was a bit of a stretch, but I was satisfied with it. Is it a noir or a romance? This movie really doesn't know, but it's a good watch.

Completed in 1948 but not released until 1950. This would seem to be the kiss of death for a film as usually this means a film is a mess and the studio doesn't know what to do with it. Sometimes they redo parts of the story and sometimes they just cut their losses and release it--either way, a film that's pulled off the shelf is NOT a sure sign of a successful film! Sure, there are a few exceptions (such as the recent "Tucker and Dale Versus Evil"), but most such films are duds. Is "Walk Softly Stranger" a dud? Read on...

This is a confusing film. Now this is NOT meant as a criticism but more a reflection on the sort of character Joseph Cotten plays in this movie. You just aren't sure what sort of man he really is. The film begins with Cotten arriving in a small town. He announces that he'd lived there as a kid and has now returned but you can't get past the idea that this is a con. You doubt his motives even more when you see he's living two lives--one as an employee at the local show factory and the other as a professional gambler and thief! And, while he definitely has a hard side, he also begins dating a lady in a wheelchair (Alida Valli) who thinks no man could even want her. What gives?! A 'nice' crook with a heart of gold?! And, is he really Chris Hale? Ultimately, it turns out even he doesn't know! All this story leads to one of the best finales I've seen in a film of this era. Just stay tuned to the exciting car scene--it is simply brilliant and I don't know how they managed to make it look so real. Gripping--that's for sure.

An excellent sleeper--why did these idiots hold on to this excellent movie so long?!

Walk Softly, Stranger is directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Frank Fenton. It stars Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Spring Byington, Paul Stewart and Jack Paar. Music is by Frederick Hollander and cinematography by Harry J. Wild.

Chris Hale (Cotton) arrives in Ashton, Ohio, with manipulation and a robbery on his mind. But when he meets wheelchair bound Elaine Corelli (Valli), it alters the course of his future plans…

It's the other Cotton and Valli movie, the one that isn't The Third Man. It's also the movie hat marked the wind of change at RKO as Howard Hughes breezed into the studio and promptly set about putting his own stamp on things, badly as it happens. Walk Softly, Stranger on the shelf for two years and subsequently got released in 1950, no doubt due in part to the success of The Third Man the year previously.

It's a strange blend of romantic melodrama – cum thriller – with some film noir edginess, something which doesn't all together work. It's very slowly paced and settles into a mood approaching disquiet, a femme fatale of sorts is nicely set up, and the whole "just one last job" vibe keeps interest in the story high. Acting from Cotton and Valli is strong, Paul Stewart is as usual good value when playing a twitchy loser bad guy type, and Byington almost steals the film from the leads with an ebullient show as the widow Brentman.

Unfortunately, come the final third the picture fails to deliver on its moody promise, choosing instead to rely on one action set-piece and a waft of optimism for pic's closure. It's not the pay off required or hoped for, a shame because as a production in general it's of good quality. 6/10

On the run gambler, con man Chris Hale Joseph Cotton inveigles his way into a small All- American town to lie low for awhile. He charms his way into the good graces of locals and begins a relationship with a local shoe titan's wheel chair bound daughter (Valli). While he envisions starting anew in this town he can't resist making one more big score by ripping off a vicious thug. The theft is cleanly pulled off and Hale disappears back to his small community where he has assumed another identity. Unfortunately his unstable partner in the robbery tracks him down and from here things begin to unravel.

Fresh from their Third Man pairing Joseph Cotton and Valli made this stylish little noir that at times evokes masterworks of the genre such as Shadow of a Doubt and Out of the Past. It has some tightly edited and well filmed suspenseful moments and Cotton as always gives a strong understated performance. Valli on the other hand is still in her post war Vienna funk so enigmatic in Third Man but dull and lifeless here. Upbeat Spring Byington and especially surly and troubled Paul Stewart provide effective opposite examples of the human condition that pull at Hale's conscience.

Unfortunately in it's final scene, Walk Softly Stranger takes advice from its title and signs off with a mawkish tacked on ending that obliterates the impact of the previous scene which is infinitely more compatible to the overall doomed mood of story and character.