Plot
When Chris Hale arrives at the doorstep of his childhood Ohio home, the current resident, widow Mrs. Brentman, invites him to enter. Chris, who is unemployed, accepts Mrs. Brentman's offer of a room and takes a job in the shipping department of the Corelli shoe factory. One night, Chris wanders into the Ashton country club and meets Elaine Corelli, his boss's beautiful but paralyzed daughter. Speaking of the days when he used to deliver newspapers to her door and adored her from afar, Chris amuses and fascinates the once-vibrant Elaine. The next day, Chris is called in to see Elaine's father A. J., who tells him that Elaine was so taken with him that she asked that he be given a better job in sales. Chris declines the offer, but assures Corelli, who is devoted to his daughter, that he will explain his decision to Elaine. As promised, Chris, a confessed gambler and drifter, shows up at the Corelli home to talk with Elaine. Although Chris's explanations are vague, his self-deprecating humor relaxes Elaine, who is finally able to joke about the skiing accident that left her paralyzed.
The next morning, Chris flies to another city for a rendezvous with petty criminal Whitey Lake, who calls him "Steve." Chris and Whitey then rob gambling house owner Bowen of $200,000 in cash, knowing that the crime will never be reported. After splitting the money and advising Whitey to "disappear," Chris returns to Ashton and accepts an invitation for a double date from co-worker Ray Healy. When he then runs into Elaine, however, Chris breaks the date and takes the reluctant heiress to a working class nightclub. Chris' jilted date, Gwen, is also at the club and denounces him in front of Elaine. Although Chris wins a joking bet with Elaine that he can get Gwen to dance with him, Elaine grows despondent watching her would-be rival dance. Sure that Chris will come to resent her paralysis, Elaine leaves suddenly for Florida. When she returns at Christmas, however, Chris resumes his pursuit, and by New Year's Eve, the two are deeply in love. Chris' newfound happiness is short-lived, however, as Whitey shows up, broke and scared. Chris insists that Whitey, who is being chased by Bowen, stay locked up in Mrs. Brentman's house until he can figure out an escape plan. Whitey's nerves are soon frayed, and he begins tearing apart Chris' room in search of Chris' share of Bowen's money.
Then, after he learns that Chris is sending Mrs. Brentman to see her son's grave in Arlington Cemetery, Whitey, who takes afternoon walks in defiance of Chris' orders to stay indoors, becomes convinced that his friend intends to kill him during her absence. Chris finally calms and reassures the now-hysterical Whitey, and sees Mrs. Brentman off at the airport. As he is driving home, he realizes that he is being followed by two men, but manages to reach Elaine's without detection. Chris confesses all to an understanding Elaine, who advises him to return the money. Elaine also reveals that, as she moved to Ashton as a teenager, she knew all along that he was lying about his past. By the time Chris returns to Mrs. Brentman's, Whitey has been killed and the money reclaimed. The killers then take Chris to see the vengeful Bowen, who, while riding in a car with his prisoner, suggests they both rob Elaine of her fortune. Disgusted, Chris tries to take Bowen's driver by surprise, but is shot by Bowen in the ensuing struggle. The car crashes, and Chris winds up in a police hospital. As the recuperated Chris is about to be transferred to prison, Elaine visits and vows to wait until his release, when he will finally need her the way she has always needed him.
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "The grudging romance which Frank Fenton has contrived in his script has an interesting novelty about it, and it is well directed by Robert Stevenson and tartly played. The possibility of fireworks between two complicated characters, both of them harboring some strange malice, looks to be better than fair. But then Mr. Fenton surrenders, to a cliché as old as the screen. The fellow turns out to be a criminal, holed-up for a precautionary spell. And the climax is just a running battle with his enemies who come to get him, that is all. ... [T]he story deflates in the middle. 'Walk Softly, Stranger' doesn't carry a big stick." [2]
Critic Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The picture easily deserves an 'A' for its avoidance of crude melodrama, for scenes that are often nicely tinged with humor, and excellent and cultivated performances by its two principal players. ... 'Walk Softly, Stranger' falls short of the finest fulfillment that might be imagined for the picture. But its values are undeniable, and the fact that it avoids theatricalism and melodrama is enormously to its credit." [1]
The film lost an estimated $775,000, making it one of RKO's greatest flops of the year. [5]
