JohnHowardReid Thanks to the ingenious William Irish/Cornell Woolrich original short story (published in 1943), this Monogram quickie is actually worth seeing. It has an excellent screenplay by Steve Fisher and topnotch direction by William Nigh. Adding to the tautly suspenseful script, cinematographer Mack Stengler has really excelled himself with fine compositions and moody lighting that gives all the movie's compositions a wonderfully rich, glossy sheen.Ah! No wonder the movie is so good. The producer is Walter Mirisch, a man of great taste who has brought out the best in his cast, headed by Don Castle, Elyse Knox and Regis Toomey. Another masterstroke is that Mirisch hired Otho Lovering to "supervise" the film editing. In other words, Lovering was actually on the set to supervise compositions and advise Stengler, leaving Nigh free to concentrate on the actors. Using music by Frederick Chopin for the score was yet another ingenious way to save money and yet enhance the movie's appeal.

kidboots By the late 1940s due to the success of "I Wake Up Screaming" Woolrich's former pulp writer friend Steve Fisher was in Hollywood writing scripts for "Lady in the Lake" and "Dead Reckoning". He was given a Monogram assignment to adapt Cornell Woolrich's "I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes". It was a huge task as Cornell's story was full of ambiguities and he had deliberately left the ending unresolved!! Woolrich worked fast, did not revise or polish and often didn't even re-read the finished piece. He also often abruptly closed the story without thinking about the fate of his characters. Fisher sought out his friend to see if they could come up with a solution that would satisfy movie goers but Cornell, whose talent was now on a downward spiral, couldn't care less about what they did to his story - he even told Steve to make up whatever ending he pleased.Don Castle and Regis Toomey who had both starred in another Woolrich adaptation - "The Guilty" were reteamed and beautiful Elyse Knox was Ann Quin. A married couple are at the end of their rope. She works in a dance hall, he is an unemployed dancer - both are hoping that California holds their pot of gold but it is only a pipe dream. When Tom (Castle) throws his one and only pair of shoes at some fighting cats his nightmare begins!! His shoes are mysteriously returned the next morning - but there is also news of a murder, an old janitor with a secret stash of old fashioned money and who lives in the same neighbourhood. Out the back Det. Judd (Toomey) finds a shoe print and the killer is almost in the bag. The shoe is unusual - it is a dancer's shoe that has been used for regular footwear (wonder whose it can be??) and to make matters worse Tom finds a wallet packed with money of (you guessed it) the old fashioned sort!! He is all for handing it over to the police but Ann..... and of course they do things her way!!When the police finally come calling Ann recognises Judd as being a regular at the dance hall - one who tips generously to those girls who prove sympathetic listeners. Adapted from Woolrich's moody novelette from a 1938 Detective Fiction Weekly, the ending was very different and in keeping with Woolrich's mysogynistic thoughts. This film is a gritty noir with lots of twists and turns.

The_Void This film would appear to have been 'lost' since it's release in 1948, and that's a shame as while it's certainly not the best film of the 'film noir' era; it's a good one, and a lot better than many of the more popular noirs. The film features the trademark noir gloomy atmosphere, and this is excellently complimented by the shots of the city at night. The plot focuses on the idea of bad luck, as many noirs do, and the title is a lot more literal than you may think. The plot isn't full of ideas, and mostly just focuses on the central theme; which is a bonus if you ask me as it means that the director can spend more time building up the central situation and as a result; the film is ultimately more thrilling. We focus on a pair of characters; both out of luck dancers. One night, they are being kept awake by cats outside their apartment and so, as you do, he throws his shoes out the window to shut them up. He retrieves them the next day, and soon after their luck changes when he finds a wallet containing two thousand dollars. However, the police come to believe that the money belongs to a murdered man; and the husband soon comes under suspicion for the murder.The idea that the plot focuses on is good, and the shoes of the title are the centrepiece object - which helps the film as it gives it a real sense of irony. The acting isn't the best, but all the performers do well in their respective roles. Don Castle convinces as the unlucky law abiding citizen, while Elyse Knox gets most of the plaudits for her central role as his put-upon girl. Regis Toomey, who has previously worked with the likes of Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock rounds off the cast nicely, and takes a lot of the focus away from Don Castle with his linchpin role. The plot plays out well, and even though the film only runs for seventy minutes; it has to be said that the film explores most of the implications of the plot, and this is always interesting since there isn't any padding. Director William Nigh does well in creating mystery and suspense, and the plot all builds to a satisfying and somewhat shocking conclusion that sees all the characters get a fitting comeuppance. Overall, this isn't a great film, noir; but it's well worth seeing and hopefully it'll be uncovered soon and given a DVD release!

bmacv A film noir that was all but lost but recently resurfaced, I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes brings yet another of Cornell Woolrich's paranoiac nightmares to the screen. Don Castle, a hoofer on his uppers, shares a cramped room in a New York boarding house with his wife and sometime partner Elyse Knox. While he frets in his bathrobe, a fifth of gin on the bed-table, she entertains gentlemen at a buck-a-dance academy. One night, he hurls his good tap shoes (actually, his only pair of shoes) out the window at some randy cats. When he goes to retrieve them, they aren't there, but mysteriously reappear outside his door next morning.Next thing, he's hauled in for the murder of a reclusive old miser in the neighborhood. The impression of one of his shoes clinches the conviction (and it doesn't help that he just happened to find a wallet stuffed with the old-style bills the victim hoarded). He's waiting for his execution as the movie opens, and most of the story gets told through flashbacks. The third major character is a cop, Regis Toomey, who had met Knox at the tango palace and taken a shine to her. Desperate to clear her husband, she feigns reciprocation of Toomey's interest so he'll help her out. Toomey's another example of the obsessive, stalking cop, created by Laird Cregar in I Wake Up Screaming (1942) and reprised by Richard Boone in its remake Vicki (1953). He breaks a new development in the case by finding the tenant of another room within shoe-shot of Castle's, but this proves to be only a rather tasty red herring. As the clock ticks down to midnight and curtains for Castle, Knox stumbles upon the clue that cracks the case....Many forgotten films from the noir cycle turn out to be just what one might suspect: hackneyed, humdrum crime programmers. But, like Decoy, I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes surprises by its competence. The dancing couple exude appeal, Toomey and the other cops offer acting rather than shtik, and the plot unfurls with reasonable deftness. It even looks good. As a restoration to the noir canon, it's more than welcome.