Walk Softly, Stranger (1950)
Director: Robert Stevenson
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
An intriguing set of variables: the 'sins of the past' crime movie meets doomy romance in Middle America. Career thief Cotten lodges with small town widow Byington while targeting wheelchair-bound heiress Valli as a marriage prospect, surmising her handicap might make her potentially receptive to his sweet talking advances. With the casting chemistry from The Third Man at work again, however, his emotions are soon playing it for real, though his professional vanity can't resist the lure of one last casino heist. A lacklustre third act puts the damper on an otherwise modestly individual saga of redemption, and if Cotten's performance is perhaps too low key for its own good, Valli brings smouldering complexity to her sketchily written role. Flaws notwithstanding, it insinuates into the memory.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Robert Stevenson
Producer: Robert Sparks
Cast: Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Spring Byington, Paul Stewart, Jack Paar, Jeff Donnell, John McIntire, Howard Petrie, Frank Puglia full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 81 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now