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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
When You're Cover Is Blown, 16 March 2007
8/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Footsteps in the Dark is the title of a mystery novel that investment banker Errol Flynn wrote under a pseudonym that has become a best seller. Unfortunately he used as characters some of his wife Brenda Marshall and mother-in-law Lucille Watson's society friends and they'd like to sue the author if they can find him.

Errol while trying to see they don't find out what his double life is gets himself involved in another murder of Noel Madison who wanted Flynn to essentially launder the money from some stolen jewels in his banker self.

Flynn spends over 90 minutes struggling to keep his identities secret from those who know him in one guise or the other and solve the mystery at the same time. The only two who know about his masquerade are his chauffeur Allen Jenkins and his lawyer Grant Mitchell.

Flynn had a very good gift for comedy, he had already done The Perfect Specimen and Four's A Crowd and had gotten good reviews. Footsteps in the Dark was an effort by Warner Brothers to cash in on the popularity and success MGM was enjoying with The Thin Man series. Flynn and Marshall were good together though there was no further sequels.

Best in the film by far is William Frawley as one truly dumb detective that even his superior Alan Hale is frustrated with. Flynn bounces some great lines off Frawley.

It's a different Errol Flynn than normal and not a bad one.

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
a well crafted mystery and a touch of romance and light comedy thrown in for good measure, a hidden gem, 3 May 2005
10/10
Author: jeff from chicago usa

a hidden gem, shows the wide variety of skills errol flynn possessed but was not given credit for until much later. errol could really act, he had an excellent comedic touch and really makes this well written mystery a lot of fun. brenda marshall is her usual gorgeous self, shes a dream. the mystery is well crafted and this was good enough that they should have done a sequel. errol was type cast by the studio as a the prototype "super man" and "action hero", which he did better then anyone. what the studio prevented was errol doing comedy and other roles which he was marvelous at. the few comedy roles he was allowed to do in his career are superb. his star was brighter then most, but hidden by studio hacks were many of his varied talents.

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A fun and delightful comedy/ murder mystery, 4 August 2003
6/10
Author: yarborough from northridge, ca

Errol Flynn is a very underrated actor when it comes to comedy. People just see him as a swashbuckler, dashing action hero. Not as a actor who could do any role from any type of genre. In Footsteps in the Dark he's very amusing and witty in his role as a person who lives a double life. In the day he's a insurance investigator, who goes by the name of Francis Warren and to his lovely wife a man who spends late nights at representative meetings. But in reality by night he's a crime solver/ murder investigator who what he sees he writes into his novels, and his latest book called by the same name of the film has raised eyebrows all over town and everyone is wondering who is this F.X. Pettijohn. When Francis' wife finds out the truth the sparks really begin to fly. Errol Flynn is absolutely hilarious in this role and Alan Hale, Brenda Marshall, William Frawley, and Ralph Bellamy do a fine job in backing up Errol. The movie has a lot of funny moments. Some of these include how Francis explains his way out of a jam with his wife and mother in-law. Others include Francis portrayal as a rich Texan named Tex, who Errol Flynn plays with a hick accent and an amusing cowboy walk, which can't be missed. Absolutely funny, it had me in tears. There is wrong thing though that i don't like about the film, and that is it's lack of crime solving clues and interrogation of suspects. It's not like Charlie Chan with it's clever crime solving. Their are a couple of clues here and there, but nothing clever though. Still the film is very delightful to watch and funny and I think it's much more entertaining to watch then other the Errol/ Brenda film they did together the year before this, The Sea Hawk. **1/2 out of ****

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
well at least I liked it,..., 16 July 2005
8/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

The synopsis from IMDb aside, I liked this movie a lot. Probably because it was quite a departure for Flynn and because it was a rather breezy little comedy. For what this movie tried to be, it did a good job accomplishing it.

Flynn has a double life. Though a rich and socially adept man much of the time, he hides a darker side to his personality--he writes cheap mystery books that poke fun of the very sort of people that he pals around with at the expensive clubs and dinner parties. Knowing that this would ruin his reputation, he naturally keeps this from everyone--including his own family! When, quite accidentally, he stumbles on a REAL mystery, he feels compelled to prove that he really has the stuff to solve crimes--and nearly gets himself killed in the process!

Overall, the film excels due to an excellent case, a breezy and likable script and it's "fun factor"--you just can't help but enjoy the film.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Errol Flynn with a Bow Tie, 23 March 2007
7/10
Author: whpratt1 from United States

Never realized that Errol Flynn made a comedy in 1941 with Brenda Marshall and a great cast of veteran actors who were all in the top of their acting careers. This is a very funny film about a rich financial investment banker, Francis Monroe WarrenII (Errol Flynn),"Cry Wolf", who also on the side writes mystery books and keeps it all a complete secret from his family. Brenda Marshall,(Rita Warren), "Whispering Smith", plays the role of a rather dumb wife who begins to get suspicious of her husbands 3 AM arrivals through their bedroom window almost every night. Ralph Bellamy, (Dr. R.L.Davis),"Rosemary's Baby plays the role as a dentist and does more than pull teeth painlessly. Alan Hale along with Allen Jenkins give great supporting roles along with a fast paced comedy that is full of laughs and that bow tie on Errol Flynn did me IN! Enjoy

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Flynn's No William Powell, Indeed, 23 July 2009
3/10
Author: Rindiana from Germany

"Zorro" detective style meets the "Thin Man" franchise in this unbelievably bland crime comedy with broad farcical humour that's not funny and a weak murder mystery that's not thrilling.

Flynn vehicles are often silly, but seldom boring. This dud is both. Were it not for the last half hour which is, at least, a little speedier and for the still personable cast, this instantly forgettable by-product would be without any merit. It's evident Warner Bros. just wanted to make a fast buck!

Even Alan Hale looks tired!

3 out of 10 idiotic aliases

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1 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Master craftsmen made this tiresome mess, 21 March 2007
Author: lordhack_99 from hingham, mass., usa

By that I mean that the actors are pros, the cinematography is superior, the music is excellent, the opening scene under the credits is neat, the underlying idea is very good - and this mess is like watching someone trying to paint a landscape on a bucking horse. Jamming the mysterioso together with a domestic spat can be heavenly if done right - and I had just watched THE THIN MAN. After watching that film, and then this dog's dinner was painful. And I so wanted it to work!! But how can a film go off in three directions in 96 minutes and still bore us?

To think that the screenwriters were blacklisted because they were Reds almost begs the idea that they ought to have been blacklisted for stirring up this junk.

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4 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Meager results in weak comedy with forced situations..., 22 April 2001
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

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.

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