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Returned earlier this year to watching more classic/golden era films. Especially film noirs, mystery thrillers and silent film. There are always two common reasons for seeing any film or television series for this reviewer. One is if the premise sounds promising, 'Walk Softly Stranger' applies here. The other is if there is a talented cast, again this applies here, having seen Joseph Cotten and Spring Byington in other things and liking their work. The genre also appeals.

'Walk Softly Stranger' is another one of those recent discoveries long put in my watchlist but only got round to watching recently. It's another one that left me mostly impressed if not jumping out of my chair in rapture. For what it is, it is well done and executes almost all its components more than solidly. But it also misses out on having the extra something. Definitely recommended and another film that doesn't deserve its seldom seen status, just not quite an essential.

It is a long way from perfect. Did feel that it is melodramatically scripted at times, especially later on, and that it could have done with more momentum.

There are not an awful lot of surprise and the suspense isn't as strong in the final act. Coming off worst is the ending, which is very mawkish and completely at odds with the rest of the film (pretty much too much like it was lifted out of another).

However, what particularly makes 'Walk Softly Stranger' is the acting, which is very good. Cotten is beautifully restrained and amiable and Byington is solid support in a type of role she always played well. Best of all is poignant, sympathetic Alida Valli as the most fleshed out character that goes from one main personality to another as the character evolves seamlessly and gains our sympathy from start to finish.

It is filmed with a good sense of slick style and moody atmosphere and is crisply directed. The music and sound quality don't get over-bearing and suit the mood very well. The script is tight and gritty as ought and the story compels and has the right amount of intricacy. Some nice tension too and while the drama is rather subdued it did have me invested.

Overall, good but not great. 7/10.

Walk Softly, Stranger may not be the most memorable slice of classic cinema of all time, but even so; Robert Stevenson's film offers an interesting tale of redemption and retribution, despite not being at all innovative. The film stars Joseph Cotten as a man who travels to a town called Ashton. He quickly becomes friendly with the locals, and tells them that he once lived there as a boy. His friendship with a young wheelchair-bound lady named Elaine Corelli, daughter of a successful factory owner, proves his most fruitful. But people's pasts have a habit of catching up them, and the man's gambling exploits are his weakness. The fact that this film stars Joseph Cotten was my main reason for seeing it. The man has a great screen presence that blends excellently with film noir. His performance here isn't one of his best, but he does well at hinting at a sinister side to his character just below the surface. He is joined by classic actress Alida Valli, who is most notable to me for the fact that she was one of the leads of Dario Argento's masterpiece 'Suspiria'. The plot flows well throughout, and while it's never too full of surprises; and the ending doesn't live up to the beginning, the film still offers 80 minutes of decent entertainment.

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.

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

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?!