Step by Step | |
---|---|
Directed by | Phil Rosen |
Screenplay by | Stuart Palmer |
Story by | George Callahan |
Produced by | Sid Rogell |
Starring | Lawrence Tierney Anne Jeffreys Lowell Gilmore Myrna Dell Harry Harvey, Sr. Addison Richards |
Cinematography | Frank Redman |
Edited by | Robert Swink |
Music by | Paul Sawtell |
Production company | |
Distributed by | RKO Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 62 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Step by Step is a 1946 American drama film directed by Phil Rosen, written by Stuart Palmer, and starring Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Sr. and Addison Richards. It was released on August 30, 1946, by RKO Pictures. [1] [2] [3]
A secretary, Evelyn Smith, lands a job working for Remmy, a Senator. Senator Remmy is expecting to receive a list of German agents working in the United States from Colonel Blackton, a plainsclothes government agent from Washington DC. Expecting Colonel Blackton at his isolated home on the Malibu coast, he sends Ms. Smith to the beach so he can receive Col Blackton alone. At the beach, she encounters Johnny Christopher, a passerby who stopped to admire her. Johnny just returned from active duty in the Pacific during WWII as a Marine sergeant. He and his war dog, Bazuka, flirt with Evelyn who smiles and then returns to Remmy's home.
Johnny locks himself out of his car, so on foot (and in his bathing suit) he makes his way to Remmy's nearby home to get a phone and help with his locked car. A strange woman answers the door and claims to be Evelyn, concerning Johnny. The more he snoops around, the more he is convinced that something is wrong. A police officer comes at his request and, at the house, impostors claiming to be the senator, his driver and his secretary convince the policeman that Johnny is mentally disturbed, perhaps because of his war experience.
Johnny sneaks back into Senator Remmy's home, donning clothes he finds laying around. The impostors, who are enemy agents, have tied up Remmy, the real Evelyn and the senator's chauffeur. They are searching for a list in the Senator's possession, but Johnny accidentally ends up with possession of it by donning the leather jacket worn by Colonel Blackton. The chauffeur is tied up, the Senator is unconscious and the government operative, James Blackton is dead. The chauffeur escapes and brings in the police and the coroner. The Senator recovers, and the police are sure it is an inside job, with Evelyn and Johnny as the prime suspects.
Fleeing for their lives, Evelyn and Johnny end up at a motel run by Capt. Caleb Simpson and gain his trust. Unbeknownst to them, the enemy agents are also staying at the motel in another cabin. Evelyn and Johnny track down the chauffeur and try to get information about the list from him. The chauffeur is about to admit his role in admitting the enemy agents into the house to Evelyn and Johnny, when one of the enemy agents shoots him through an open window. The enemy agents make a quick get-away, and Capt. Simpson helps Evelyn and Johnny escape from the police.
The enemy agents connect Johnny, Bazuka and the borrowed clothes. The spies decide the list must be in the jacket and then discover Evelyn and Johnny's hiding place at the motel. Johnny tells them he disposed of the jacket in the sea. The enemy agents knock out Johnny and Evelyn. After finding the jacket in the back of Johnny's car, and the list in the jacket lining, the enemy agents plan to dispose of Evelyn and Johnny. They drive off with Johnny in the trunk and Evelyn wrapped up in the back seat. The police arrive and search the motel. They find a letter Johnny had dictated to the Senator taken down in shorthand by Evelyn explaining true situation. Captain Simpson helps them believe Johnny’s explanation by mentioning fresh fish discarded by the enemy agents which could not have been caught in the salt water ocean.
When the fleeing agents are stopped at a police barricade, a cry from Evelyn, who has regained consciousness, alerts the police officer. The enemy agents shoot the police officer; and drive on, knocking over the barricade. From the trunk, Johnny signals SOS with the tail lights in Morse code continuously.
Arriving at a dock, the enemy agents plan to scuttle one boat to drown an unconscious Evelyn and Johnny aboard, while leaving in an arriving boat with other agents who had been waiting off shore. At the boathouse, Johnny breaks loose and fights with the two male enemy agents and Evelyn takes care of the female agent. The police arrive with Captain Simpson to place all the enemy agents under arrest after a gun battle. The police explain that Johnny’s taillight SOS helped locate them.
In the final scene, Evelyn and Johnny marry with Bazuka and Capt. Caleb Simpson in tow.
Carver Dana Andrews was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigious roles and character parts into the 1980s. He is best known for his portrayal of obsessed police detective Mark McPherson in the noir Laura (1944) and his critically acclaimed performance as World War II veteran Fred Derry in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
Lawrence James Tierney was an American film and television actor who is best known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and tough guys in a career that spanned over 50 years. His roles mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law. In 2005, film critic David Kehr of The New York Times described "the hulking Tierney" as "not so much an actor as a frightening force of nature".
Rory Calhoun was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).
John Rummel Hamilton was an American actor who appeared in many movies and television programs, including the role as the blustery newspaper editor Perry White in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman.
James Seay was an American character actor who often played minor supporting roles as government officials.
The Great Impostor is a 1961 American comedy-drama film based on the story of an impostor named Ferdinand Waldo Demara. Loosely based on Robert Crichton's 1959 biography of the same name, it stars Tony Curtis in the title role and was directed by Robert Mulligan. The film only generally follows Demara's real-life exploits, and is much lighter in tone than the book on which it is based.
Vacation in Reno is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins and starring Jack Haley, Anne Jeffreys, Iris Adrian, Wally Brown, Alan Carney, and Morgan Conway.
John Joseph Francis Mulhall was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years.
Constantin Romanovich Bakaleinikov was a Russian-born composer who worked in Hollywood, California.
Stanley Martin Andrews was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program Little Orphan Annie and later as "The Old Ranger", the first host of the syndicated western anthology television series, Death Valley Days.
Russell McCaskill Simpson was an American character actor.
James William Flavin Jr. was an American character actor whose career lasted for nearly half a century.
The Senator Was Indiscreet is a 1947 American comedy film, the only movie directed by playwright, theatrical director/producer, humorist, and drama critic George S. Kaufman. Produced by Universal Pictures it starred William Powell as a dim-witted U.S. senator who decides to run for president, with Ella Raines as a reporter interested in the detailed diary he has kept about all the political misdeeds of his colleagues. Powell won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performances in this film and in Life with Father.
Dan Seymour was an American character actor who frequently played villains in Warner Bros. films. He appeared in several Humphrey Bogart films, including Casablanca (1942), To Have and Have Not (1944) and Key Largo (1948).
Selmer Adolf Jackson was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson.
Frank Reppy Wilcox was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films and television series, as well as Broadway plays.
James Millican was an American actor with over 200 film appearances mostly in western movies.
The Great Impersonation is a 1942 American thriller film directed by John Rawlins and starring Ralph Bellamy, Evelyn Ankers and Aubrey Mather. It is an adaptation of the 1920 novel The Great Impersonation by Edward Phillips Oppenheim with the setting moved from the early 1910s of the novel to the Second World War. It was made by Universal Pictures and was a remake of their 1935 film of the same name.
No Place for a Lady is a 1943 black and white mystery film, directed by James P. Hogan.
Secret Enemies is a 1942 American drama film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and written by Raymond L. Schrock. The film stars Craig Stevens, Faye Emerson, John Ridgely, Charles Lang, Robert Warwick, and Frank Reicher. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 17, 1942.