User reviews

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.

Footsteps in the Dark is the title of a mystery novel that investment banker Errol Flynn wrote under a pseudonym that has become a best seller. Unfortunately he used as characters some of his wife Brenda Marshall and mother-in-law Lucille Watson's society friends and they'd like to sue the author if they can find him.

Errol while trying to see they don't find out what his double life is gets himself involved in another murder of Noel Madison who wanted Flynn to essentially launder the money from some stolen jewels in his banker self.

Flynn spends over 90 minutes struggling to keep his identities secret from those who know him in one guise or the other and solve the mystery at the same time. The only two who know about his masquerade are his chauffeur Allen Jenkins and his lawyer Grant Mitchell.

Flynn had a very good gift for comedy, he had already done The Perfect Specimen and Four's A Crowd and had gotten good reviews. Footsteps in the Dark was an effort by Warner Brothers to cash in on the popularity and success MGM was enjoying with The Thin Man series. Flynn and Marshall were good together though there was no further sequels.

Best in the film by far is William Frawley as one truly dumb detective that even his superior Alan Hale is frustrated with. Flynn bounces some great lines off Frawley.

It's a different Errol Flynn than normal and not a bad one.

"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.

a hidden gem, shows the wide variety of skills errol flynn possessed but was not given credit for until much later. errol could really act, he had an excellent comedic touch and really makes this well written mystery a lot of fun. brenda marshall is her usual gorgeous self, shes a dream. the mystery is well crafted and this was good enough that they should have done a sequel. errol was type cast by the studio as a the prototype "super man" and "action hero", which he did better then anyone. what the studio prevented was errol doing comedy and other roles which he was marvelous at. the few comedy roles he was allowed to do in his career are superb. his star was brighter then most, but hidden by studio hacks were many of his varied talents.

Errol Flynn is a very underrated actor when it comes to comedy. People just see him as a swashbuckler, dashing action hero. Not as a actor who could do any role from any type of genre. In Footsteps in the Dark he's very amusing and witty in his role as a person who lives a double life. In the day he's a insurance investigator, who goes by the name of Francis Warren and to his lovely wife a man who spends late nights at representative meetings. But in reality by night he's a crime solver/ murder investigator who what he sees he writes into his novels, and his latest book called by the same name of the film has raised eyebrows all over town and everyone is wondering who is this F.X. Pettijohn. When Francis' wife finds out the truth the sparks really begin to fly. Errol Flynn is absolutely hilarious in this role and Alan Hale, Brenda Marshall, William Frawley, and Ralph Bellamy do a fine job in backing up Errol. The movie has a lot of funny moments. Some of these include how Francis explains his way out of a jam with his wife and mother in-law. Others include Francis portrayal as a rich Texan named Tex, who Errol Flynn plays with a hick accent and an amusing cowboy walk, which can't be missed. Absolutely funny, it had me in tears. There is wrong thing though that i don't like about the film, and that is it's lack of crime solving clues and interrogation of suspects. It's not like Charlie Chan with it's clever crime solving. Their are a couple of clues here and there, but nothing clever though. Still the film is very delightful to watch and funny and I think it's much more entertaining to watch then other the Errol/ Brenda film they did together the year before this, The Sea Hawk. **1/2 out of ****

Enjoyable comedy mystery with Errol Flynn as a man who, unknown to his wife and mother-in-law, leads a double life as an amateur sleuth and writer of murder mysteries. I like this one a lot, which appears to place me in the minority here, judging by a quick glance at some of the reviews. Errol Flynn shows how well he can do with comedy in a nice change of pace for him that still plays to his strengths as a charming ladies man. Unlike some other reviewers, I don't see any reason for comparisons (positive or negative) to William Powell's Nick Charles from the Thin Man series, beyond the most superficial similarities. The great supporting cast includes Allen Jenkins, Ralph Bellamy, Lee Patrick, William Frawley, Roscoe Karns, Grant Mitchell, Lucille Watson, and Alan Hale. Nice seeing Hale in a slightly different role than usual as the police inspector frustrated by Flynn but relying on his help. It's what I would call the James Gleason role because he played those kinds of parts perfectly. Lovely Brenda Marshall plays Flynn's wife and, like Flynn, proves she can handle comedy quite well. It's a fun picture. It doesn't bring to the table anything particularly innovative for either the comedy or mystery genres but it gets the job done as lightweight entertainment. Flynn had a great run from about 1935 to 1945 where he made most of his classics. I've seen all of his films from this period and, in my opinion, there wasn't a stinker among them.

This is my favourite Errol Flynn comedy, OK, he only made four, and they are all worthwhile, but for sheer silly fun, this one is tops. Flynn was a good actor, far better than he's usually given credit for, and he was especially good at comedy, he could take silly material like this, and make it entertaining and watchable, all the supporting cast are top pros and give great performances. Don't try to analyse it or even make sense of it, it's a comedy, silly, but fun, with some great dialogue, and everyone seems to be having such a fun time you can't help but be caught up in it too! Only wish the Warners had given Errol Flynn a lot more comedies, he really was good at it! Sad that he could never appreciate his own talents and eventually became despondent and took a path of self destruction that led to his untimely death at just 50. I hope he's found the peace on the other side that eluded him here?

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

Errol Flynn's films that are have a contemporary setting didn't seem to be as successful at the box office as his other ones. "Footsteps in the Dark" is an example of this and it isn't as good as it could have been. The film is a pale imitation of the "Thin Man" films made by "M.G.M," which are were made with more style and wit. Flynn's frequent co-star Alan Hale is a welcome addition but his scenes with Errol aren't their usual because they are antagonists. The plot is very predictable with murders and disappearances occurring every which way you look. Flynn is leading a double life as an author of crime novels and he can't bear to have his wife or mother-in-law find out. William Frawley is quite good as the slow-witted police officer. Occasionally, there is some humour that works but this is a failure most of the time.

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.

Everyone who knows me knows my frustration with Gone With the Wind. I can never get past Rhett Butler's lack of a Southern accent, and I would have preferred Errol Flynn in the role. How does this relate to my review about the comedy Footsteps in the Dark? Because in this wacky mystery, Errol puts on a Southern drawl in a few scenes to hide his voice. While I loved hearing it, it also saddened me to see definite proof that he would have been a better Rhett Butler. Had he been just as incapable of a Southern accent as Clark Gable, I would have lost my case.

Now, let's get to the plot: Errol stars as a respectable suburban husband who attends dinner parties, bridge games, and lunches at the club. That kind of life isn't exciting enough for him (after all, he played Robin Hood three years ago!) and on the side, he moonlights as a trashy novelist. Sometimes, he draws from real life, and when clues about some of his neighbors make appearances in his books, his identity is threatened to be exposed.

This isn't the greatest comedy to come out of the 1940s, and if Errol Flynn weren't in it, it wouldn't have been nearly as good. His comic timing is impeccable, and his charm is irresistible. Rent this one if you loved him in Never Say Goodbye and you want to see him in another comedy.

Erroll Flynn is a staid broker married to Brenda Marshall. He lives a secret life as a mystery novelist, whose latest pseudonymous book is set in a satirical variation of the upper crust. This has his mother-in-law in a snit. Flynn swaps yarns with police inspector Alan Hale, who invites him along on a case.

I did not find it particularly appealing. Part of the problem is that it's a comedy-mystery, and in this period, Warner Brothers comedies weren't funny, they were frantic. There's a long sequence in which Flynn pretends to be a Texan for Code-compliant stripper Lee Patrick, and it goes on forever, as does this movie at 96 minutes. I'm sure that you'll instantly pick out the murderer on no evidence, as I did.

Have loved Errol Flynn in many other roles, especially in a personal favourite film of mine 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'. It was interesting to see him in a different role. It is also hard to resist films with a mix of mystery, romance and comedy, being a big fan of mystery and appreciating a lot the other two. The title sounded suitably ominous and sounded really great and the idea of the story also sounded like 'Footsteps in the Dark' would be at least a decent film.

A decent film 'Footsteps in the Dark' turned out to be. Not great as such, it didn't see the best of Flynn and there are better examples of mystery, romance and comedy, individually and together. But was honestly expecting a lot worse and got an entertaining and charming diversion that wasn't bad at all, while also not living up to full potential. Plenty to enjoy but not an essential, and there are quite a few Flynn films that are more recommendable above 'Footsteps in the Dark'.

Will get the not so good things out of the way. Did find the ending far too obvious and the identity of the perpetrator and all of that was not really that much of a surprise at all really. Some may find William Crawley good fun to watch, to me he overdoes it here and doesn't quite gel with the light-heartedness, something that seemed to be the same case with another previous reviewer.

Flynn though doesn't play his role too heavily and to me actually looked at ease in his role, it is not easy breaking away from typecast roles and taking on different roles and Flynn did a good job on this front. He is well, if not exceptionally as such, supported by the rest of the cast, Ralph Bellamy and Alan Hale in tailor made roles for them that they could play in their sleep (though the sleepwalking certainly doesn't show) being the standouts. Brenda Marshall does well with what she has.

The mystery doesn't blow the socks off and does get obivious towards the end, but the story still intrigues and has some nice suspense. The comedy is not hilarious but for me it amused at least. The more romantic parts avoids being too sentimental or sickly sweet. The film is photogtaphed skilfully and it is directed with style and not in an unengaged way. The script inttigues and amuses, but it doesn't wow.

In conclusion, enjoyable but didn't blow me away. 7/10

What is it about actors who excel at certain roles, but long to play very different ones? With all his accomplishment acting the great dramatic parts written by Shakespeare, why did Laurence Olivier attempt comedy with only mixed success in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)? And why did the famous musical comedy star Danny Kaye take on the very serious part of the elderly Holocaust survivor in the anti-Semitism drama Skokie (1981)?

The same kind of thinking seemed to affect Errol Flynn in 1941. In the space of less than three years (1938-1940), Flynn appeared in a total of seven period films--ranging from The Sisters (1938) to Santa Fe Trail (1940). For his next movie, he apparently longed to put on a contemporary suit of clothes and try his hand at a light comedy role somewhat similar to that perfected by William Powell in The Thin Man series at MGM. He would play Francis Warren--successful investment counselor/ amateur sleuth/ satirical detective story novelist. The narrative was light and breezy, and Flynn got the opportunity to be both charming and funny. He was ably supported by an excellent cast drawn from the Warner Brothers stock company, and Flynn relied heavily on his appealing ability to appear both self-deprecating and at the same time not to be taking himself too seriously. From the final result, it looks like Flynn enjoyed the experience of making Footsteps in the Dark (FITD). Why was the film not the success he had hoped for?

Alas, when the public embraces an actor who establishes a certain image, it will often reject him when he abandons that image in favor of trying to assume another uncharacteristic one. Clark Gable seemingly could do no wrong at the box office when he played "Clark Gable" type roles, but when he chose a very different one in Parnell (1937), his fans expressed their disappointment by rejecting the film. A somewhat similar experience happened to Cary Grant when he made None But the Lonely Heart (1944), Spencer Tracy with his remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) and Fred Astaire in his final large scale musical Finian's Rainbow (1968). Errol Flynn's screen image was carefully crafted through a succession of elaborate costume epics, period dramas and swashbucklers. While he was clearly capable of successfully doing light comedy (he was actually pretty good at it), Flynn's fans seemed to like him less when he acted in such projects as FITD.

Whether he realized it or not, Flynn was nearing the end of his peak years at Warner Brothers. As his popularity began to decline, so did opportunities to broaden his range as a performer. He would just be given one last vehicle to demonstrate his talent in light comedy (Never Say Goodbye (1946)). It is our loss that he did not appear in a greater number of such roles. They probably reflected more aspects of the real Errol Flynn than most of the films that now tend to define his career.

"Somebody died from drinking too much booze." "The man literally drank himself to death. A weak heart helped some, I imagine."

That's an eerily prescient Cause Of Death at the heart of this murder mystery. Except Flynn's not the stiff, he's the amateur private detective. And one with a light comic touch, too.

It's sad that an actor so beautiful and yes, so talented, could not have been put to use in more comedies. He had the timing and the twinkle in his eye for it. And gratefully, to modern eyes, he didn't resort to the excruciating screwball ham-boning that mars so many first-decade comedy talkies. Flynn pretends to be Tex in a dinner scene with showgirl Blondie White. He plays the hick - his accent and physicality - with just the right level of doofus without venturing into farce. If you can't laugh at that you better check your pulse.

And check out the interrogation he gets from his wife and mother-in-law when he sneaks back into the house. They show just the right balance of peevishness and willingness to believe his blarney, without coming across as empty-headed on one hand, or harpies on the other. That's deft directing.

Brenda Marshall, even when she's supposed to be angry with her husband, is so darn attractive it's spooky. She really got to show her own acting talent here. Following their pairing in the transcendant The Sea Hawk, I'm shocked Flynn and Marshall weren't teamed up more often.

Frankly, this whole thing is so charming I can't believe they didn't turn this into a series. It's got way better legs than the criminally over-rated Thin Man series, which took a decent premise and beat it to death over the years, to the point where the only thing worth caring about by the last instalment was whether Nick Charles would die of alcoholism. Haha. Look at me, Nora, I'm completely sh!t-faced before noon! Where's Asta? Woof.

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.

Errol Flynn was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood from the mid 1930s to late 40s, but most of his hit films were in the action/adventure genre and were costumed period pictures and later, war pictures. Warner Brothers put him in contemporary dramas and comedies but they never did anything close to the box office of his action films. Flynn even made a very successful series of Westerns, a genre he originally didn't want to try because he didn't think the public would accept him in those kinds of roles. They did. But none of his films set in the then present day succeeded. "Dive Bomber", in which he plays a doctor, is close, but it's still an action picture in a military setting.

Flynn's light style and charming manner was well suited for comedy and of the four he made for Warner Brothers, this is considered one of the two best, the other (and better) being "Never Say Goodbye" (1946). "Footsteps In the Dark" was adapted from the play of the same name combined with a London stage play, "Blondie White". The studio wanted it to be the start of a light murder-mystery series like "The Thin Man" and even set up a potential sequel at the end, but with little public interest, it was never followed up. Warner's wasn't alone in wanting to copy the success of "The Thin Man"; Columbia Pictures tried with 1942's "A Night To Remember" with Brian Aherne and Loretta Young, but that was never followed up either. The combination of William Powell and Myrna Loy was one of those special Hollywood matches that simply couldn't be duplicated.

"Footsteps In the Dark" isn't a bad film by any means and is enjoyable and fun, but never rises above average. The problem is the screenplay by Lester Cole and John Wexley, which never explores the potential situations of the plot. Here, successful but bored investment counsellor Francis Warren (Flynn) writes murder mysteries as F. X. Pettijohn, unbeknownst to his family and business associates. He is assisted by his chauffeur-typist, Wilfred (Alan Jenkins). Of course he stumbles upon a real murder and complications ensue.

Though much could proceed from this, what does happen is fairly routine and tame. His wife, played by Brenda Marshall, who had just appeared with him in "The Sea Hawk", has very little to do. Unlike Myrna Loy's Nora Charles. Marshall's Rita Warren is totally ignorant of anything going on until over halfway through the film and seems to appear only at breakfast. There's little chance to see them as a real couple, and when she does get more screen time she has to act jealous over mistaken assumptions. Though there are some comic scenes they're not laugh out loud funny, and the dialogue is never truly witty. There is a problem with the mystery as well. As fans of "The Thin Man" or Agatha Christie will know, a mystery should keep you guessing until the end and supply plenty of possible suspects. Here there are very few and it's fairly easy to guess the murderer.

The cast does the best with what they have and the film is full of Warner Brothers regulars. Alan Hale, who appeared in a dozen films with Flynn, here is Police Inspector Mason, who needs Flynn to point out the fact that a homicide even took place. His gruff, thick-headed and bullish detective is "Hoppy" Hopkins, played by William Frawley, looking and sounding exactly as he did as Fred Mertz in "I Love Lucy". It's a large role for the actor who appeared in over a hundred films before his television success and he's funny in it.

Lucille Watson has her frequent dowager role and gets some good barbs to throw at Flynn. Coincidentally, she played Nick Charles' mother in "The Thin Man Goes Home". Genial Ralph Bellamy plays a dentist whose office is in the apartment building of one of the suspects. Turhan Bey is a suspicious acting butler and likely suspect, but completely disappears halfway into the film. Lee Patrick has a choice role as Blondie White, a Queen of Burlesque. She's best known as Effie in "The Maltese Falcon" and as Mrs. Henrietta Topper in the 1950's TV show. She looks like she's having fun doing her stage routine and is humorously courted by Flynn, who claims to be an oil man from Texas (shades of "Pillow Talk"). Flynn is very good at putting this over. I wish it had been better. I would have liked to see Flynn in a continuing series like this. There's no way I could say it's great, but it is a decent film of its type, entertaining and worth seeing.

A foolish and somewhat tiresome script about an aspiring novelist who moonlights as a crime-solving detective in his spare time. It's painful to watch an able cast of actors cope with this nonsense. Flynn wanted to play something other than swashbuckling roles so the studio gave in. Unfortunately, his feeble attempts at comedy are not a pleasure to watch. Later in his career he did manage to develop a style for this kind of farce--but not here. The wasted cast includes Brenda Marshall, Ralph Bellamy, Alan Hale and Lee Patrick. It has a few halfway interesting moments but not enough to sustain a running time of 96 minutes. Only Ralph Bellamy manages to inject some dry humor into his role as a dentist--but Flynn throughout appears more foolish than funny. Watch at your own risk.

The only thing that keeps this movie from receiving the worst possible rating is that the fine cast all give first-rate performances. First-rate performances of an amazingly bad script, unfortunately.

How could Jack Warner have thought this would work? It's confusing, uninteresting, and no, not funny. Seeing the stars of The Sea Hawk from just the year before - Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale - try to make this come alive is almost painful.

And who thought of trying to pass Lee Patrick, a fine comedian, off as a burlesque queen???? Her number is downright embarrassing, and it's not really her fault. She was completely wrong for the part.

Skip this movie. Yes, Flynn is his usual charming himself, but that certainly can't save this mistake.

This is a pleasant comedy-crime story. It is always fun to see Errol Flynn's smiling face. Here he plays the part of a financial advisor who moonlights as a crime novel writer, while shadowing the local police to get story ideas. Frances "Frank" Warren (his real name) has kept his writing profession from his wife (Brenda Marshall) and her mother, but one night a friend of his wife sees him cavorting in a club with a local stripper and phones the wife to tell her.

Frank, who is trying to solve the murder of a man he had just met, has to deal with his wife's suspicions, the inept local police (Alan Hale and William Frawley), and the characters he is investigating. Warner Brothers apparently thought this film would be the first installment in a series, but it never became that popular. It might not be another "Thin Man", but "Footsteps in the Dark" is a good setup for sequels, with most of the supporting cast being assets.

One of Errol Flynn's rare forays into comedy; it's passable, but hardly inspired. Flynn is certainly game, but the film only has one very funny scene: Flynn trying to simulate by voice the 12 strikes of a clock. The pacing is leaden and the mystery killer is rather easy to spot. **1/2 out of 4.