Walk Softly, Stranger Reviews

Cotten is a crooked gambler trying to escape his past by relocating in a small Ohio town. He moves into a boarding house Byington runs, then takes a job in a shoe factory owned by Puglia. Puglia's daughter Valli is a bitter young woman, confined to a wheelchair as the result of a skiing accident. Cotten sees a chance to bilk some money out of Valli by pretending to court her, but surprises himself by really falling in love. Romance blossoms, but this is threatened when some of Cotten's old cronies arrive in town. Cotten is once more under their thumb, but this time he extricates himself by causing the villains' automobile to crack up after a thrilling chase. In the end, Cotten must go to prison, but Valli promises to wait while he does his time. The film develops like a checklist, using every conceivable cliche that fits these characters and situations. Despite good performances by Cotten and Valli, it quickly grows boring. Production had been completed two years prior to release, but RKO held off on this, waiting for the popularity of Cotten and Valli in 1949's THE THIRD MAN to help sell the film. But to no avail, for this was the studio's biggest bomb of the year, losing some $775,000. Moroni Olsen originally played the shoe factory owner, but during retakes it was decided to replace him with Puglia. This also marked the last film famed producer Dore Schary worked on for RKO. Following disagreements with studio head Howard Hughes, Schary went back to his old offices at MGM.