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.
Review of Footsteps in the Dark
