Step Down to Terror

Charles Drake shouts at his landlady who has taken some of the cash he has lying about. She says the next time the policemen ask if he's in, she'll tell them. So Drake goes on the lam, back to his mother's home in California, where he makes nice to her, to Colleen Miller, widow of his brother, and her son, Ricky Kelman. As he courts Miss Miller -- as does plainclothesman Rod Taylor, something darker than expected begins to emerge.

It's a remake of Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT, and on its own terms, it's okay, another Universal movie about the darkness that lies at the heart of sunny 1950s America. Of course, because it's a remake of what happens to be my favorite Hitchcock movie, it seems weak in comparison. Still, for an ordinary programmer, it's all right. With Jocelyn Brando and Ann Doran.

One of the reviews says, avoid comparison with Shadow of a Doubt.

Since it's the identical story with even some of the same dialogue, this is difficult.

Charles Drake stars as a serial widow killer, Johnny Walters. On the run, he returns to his family home, thinking he will be safe there. He is greeted by his mother (Josephine Hutchinson), his sister-in-law Helen (Colleen Miller), and her little son.

A few things happen that make Helen uncomfortable. She becomes suspicious when two "reporters" come to the house to interview a typical family. Johnny of course retires to his bedroom. Later, when he goes out, Helen sees one of the reporters photographing him. Rod Taylor plays the plain-clothes detective posing as a reporter who falls for Helen.

This movie would be okay if it weren't a remake of a much better film. Charles Drake is very handsome - reminded me a little of Joel McCrea - and this is really in the beginning of Rod Taylor's career. The acting is good.

A little trivia for Californians: Colleen Miller married Walter Ralphs. You have perhaps shopped at a grocery store that bears his name. Not bad!

Based on the title, I initially thought Step Down to Terror was going to be a horror film. I soon realized my error. That's fine because I was also up for a good suspense film and always happy to see Rod Taylor. Step Down to Terror isn't completely lacking in suspense, but unfortunately, there just isn't enough of it. For starters, I think the film takes to long in the set-up before it actually gets really interesting. Then when it does get interesting and suspense starts it's fairly quickly snuffed out when the female lead oddly, and unfortunately for everyone involved, including the audience, decides to put everything out there. The very ending scene is odd and seemed like a last minute kind of thing.

This film noir has essentially the same story as Alfred Hitchcock's famous film of 15 years previously, A SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943). According to the IMDb entry for Gordon McDonell, he was a writer for both films, though he does not actually appear in the IMDb listing for the Hitchcock film. There are considerable differences between the films. In this one, the happy family has a young son, played by Rickey Kelman. But the Hitchcock film's happy family had a daughter, played by Theresa Wright, who was well known by that time and much older than Kelman. The story in both cases involves the uncle of the children turning up unexpectedly at the family home to stay with them for a prolonged period. The children in both stories have never seen him before, as he is the brother of their deceased father who had been out of touch with everyone for years. The uncle is very handsome and charming and an interesting and well-travelled person. So at first everyone is thrilled. But there is a slight problem: he is psychopathic killer on the run, hence really hiding out with the family. Naturally, the Hitchcock film is superior, in which the uncle is played by Joseph Cotton. But in this film he is played very well indeed by the less well known Charles Drake, perhaps even in some ways more convincingly. The title chosen for this film is rather silly, though it does refer to one minor detail in the story. Rod Taylor makes a significant appearance in the film at an early stage of his career, aged 28, and does very well. The film is certainly effective and is not just a pale copy of the Hitchcock film.

Avoid any comparison with Hitchcock's masterful "shadow of a doubt" ,its remake would suffer ; nobody here can match the Teresa Wright/Joseph Cotten pair ,and the director can't begin to touch the master's genius of suspense of psychological tension .Thornton Wilder and Alma Hitchcock had dramatically enriched the original story ,by creating lots of new characters ,all more colorful than the one before .

In the family where the uncle takes refuge, there are only three persons; the mother ,the widowed daughter-in-law and her son ; the detective (played by Rod Taylor ,later star of Hitchcock's "the birds") plays a more prominent part than in the 1952 version,and he quickly falls in love with Helen ,the niece (there's no love/hate relationship between her and her uncle ) ; the ring is a good trick , so is the crushed bike .The film is rather short (about 75 min) and sometimes the events are too hurried for comfort; the denouement is rather poor and implausible .

Charles Drake is handsome and quite convincing when he charms the old ladies .

Needless to say ,you will always be better off with the fifties version.