Footsteps in the Dark

"Footsteps in the Dark" is a 1941 film briskly directed by Lloyd Bacon. It stars Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale, Lee Patrick, Lucille Watson, Ralph Bellamy, Allen Jenkins, William Frawley, and Turhan Bey.

Flynn plays an investment broker leading a double life as a mystery writer, the author of a book called "Footsteps in the Dark." Only his chauffeur knows the truth. When he becomes involved in a real-life murder, his situation starts to create havoc at home.

This is a pretty good mystery story, though one can figure it out fairly quickly, and it's enlivened by a wonderful cast. Flynn is delightful and funny, particularly when he's disguised as a Texas oil man, Tex.

The unusual-looking Marshall is his frustrated wife and does a fine job, as does the tart-tongued Lucille Watson as his suspicious mother-in-law. Turhan Bey has a small part as a houseman, and he's very exotic. Hale and Frawley are the bumbling police.

All in all, good fun, and a nice departure for Flynn.

Errol Flynn shows here that he could excell at comedy as well as swashbuckling.Flynn plays an investment banker moonloghting by writing Mystery stories under a pen name, and in the process making such fun of his Wifes' and his mother in law's society friends that they want to find the author and Sue Him! When the truth comes out his wife is amused but his mother in law says"How can you be such a TRAITOR to your class !".Naturally Flynn gets involved in solving a REAL murder.This is a very underrated movie as far as I am concerned,with an excellent cast. Flynn and Brenda Marshall make a well matched team, and it is a pity that it didn't lead to a series of films.I understand that one called Ghosts Don't Leave Footsteps was planned but shelved due to poor box office of this film.Perhaps people just weren't used to Flynn inn this kind of film A great pity because I believe that a series of these films would have developed into serious competition for the Thin Man Series. But at least we have this overlooked Gem to enjoy.

The synopsis from IMDb aside, I liked this movie a lot. Probably because it was quite a departure for Flynn and because it was a rather breezy little comedy. For what this movie tried to be, it did a good job accomplishing it.

Flynn has a double life. Though a rich and socially adept man much of the time, he hides a darker side to his personality--he writes cheap mystery books that poke fun of the very sort of people that he pals around with at the expensive clubs and dinner parties. Knowing that this would ruin his reputation, he naturally keeps this from everyone--including his own family! When, quite accidentally, he stumbles on a REAL mystery, he feels compelled to prove that he really has the stuff to solve crimes--and nearly gets himself killed in the process!

Overall, the film excels due to an excellent case, a breezy and likable script and it's "fun factor"--you just can't help but enjoy the film.

Never realized that Errol Flynn made a comedy in 1941 with Brenda Marshall and a great cast of veteran actors who were all in the top of their acting careers. This is a very funny film about a rich financial investment banker, Francis Monroe WarrenII (Errol Flynn),"Cry Wolf", who also on the side writes mystery books and keeps it all a complete secret from his family. Brenda Marshall,(Rita Warren), "Whispering Smith", plays the role of a rather dumb wife who begins to get suspicious of her husbands 3 AM arrivals through their bedroom window almost every night. Ralph Bellamy, (Dr. R.L.Davis),"Rosemary's Baby plays the role as a dentist and does more than pull teeth painlessly. Alan Hale along with Allen Jenkins give great supporting roles along with a fast paced comedy that is full of laughs and that bow tie on Errol Flynn did me IN! Enjoy

It seems lots of people didn't like this film very much but I absolutely loved it. Flynn plays blue blood investment adviser Francis Monroe Warren II with blue blood clients, a blue blood wife, and a blue blood social life. All of this blue blood is making Francis feel tired and run down, so he leads a double life to spice things up. At night and at odd hours during the work day he concocts murder mysteries and covers his absences at home by telling his wife that he was at some board meeting. His most recent publication - under a pen name of course - has his wealthy friends aghast because he used them as characters in his book and only slightly changed their names. The town's whole social register is looking for the real name of this author so they can sue him for damages. Francis' antics begin to catch up with him when he is blackmailed by someone who knows about his double life.

Pretty soon Francis is involved in a real murder mystery involving stolen diamonds, a burlesque queen, threatening letters from an anonymous person, and clues that seem to point back to his own wife as a suspect. On top of everything, his wife and mother-in-law become suspicious of his behavior and have him followed, with the detective drawing all the wrong conclusions.

This is a very different kind of role for Flynn, but he brought to it all of the things that made his swashbuckling films such fun. As Robin Hood he was continually laughing in the face of danger, here he just grins at it, but he still seems to get the upper hand in every situation - always suave and in control. If you want to watch something that is just plain fun I highly recommend this one.