“DON’T THROW YOUR SHOES OUT THE WINDOW”

By Raymond Benson

The prolific Hollywood producer Walter Mirisch was responsible for spearheading such famed titles as Two for the Seesaw, Hawaii, In the Heat of the Night, and Dracula (’79), and served as uncredited executive producer for a number of high-profile pictures such as The Pink Panther, The Great Escape, Fiddler on the Roof, and more. Mirisch got his start, though, at the “Poverty Row” studio Monogram in the 1940s, where he churned out a few low-budget crime dramas and film noir.

Mirisch’s second feature for Monogram was a movie that has apparently been out of circulation for decades. Considering its title, one might understand why… I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes! is based on a novel of the same name by the great mystery writer Cornell Woolrich, and the screenplay is by pulp writer (e.g., Mystery Adventures magazine) Steve Fisher, who penned scripts for such flicks as Destination Tokyo (1943), Johnny Angel (1945), Song of the Thin Man (1947), and The Hunted (1947).

The picture stars relative unknowns (today), but it’s a tight little “wrong man” scenario that holds one’s interest despite having some plot and character aspects that stretch credibility.

Tom Quinn (Don Castle) is an out-of -work dancer in New York City, and he’s married to Ann (Elyse Knox). Ann works at a dance joint where strange men tip her to “provide dance lessons,” but it’s really a place where men attempt to get dates with the dancers. One guy, whom Ann refers to as “Santa Claus” because of his build, is very insistent on dancing with her (at least he tips her well). One hot night, Tom and Ann are trying to get some sleep, and noisy cats are outside howling in the alley. Tom gets up and throws his shoes out the window at the cats to shut them up (who does this, really?). Realizing he needs his shoes, Tom goes out to look for them. He can’t find them. Figuring he’ll search again in daylight, he returns to the apartment and goes to sleep. The next morning, his shoes are in the hallway outside the door. Later, he finds a wallet with a lot of money in it, seemingly placed exactly where he would stumble upon it. It turns out that a wealthy hermit who lived nearby was robbed and murdered. The police discover a shoe print outside in the mud that matches Tom’s shoes. Lo and behold, one of the detectives is none other than Clint (Regis Toomey), the fellow Ann knows as “Santa Claus.” Tom, obviously framed, is arrested, tried for murder, and convicted. He’s sentenced to die in the electric chair, so Ann has a race against time to try and prove her husband innocent. Perhaps if she gives Inspector Clint what he wants from her…?

Okay, so Tom does a really dumb thing by throwing his shoes out the window. Then, both he and Ann decide to keep the money he finds after it isn’t reported in the papers. When they start to spend it, the police get wise to the couple. Later, if Ann is so devoted to Tom, would she really start an affair with the policeman who was responsible for Tom’s arrest? The affair is implied, of course, or at least there is the promise of one if the guy helps her investigate the crime further. And… maybe the legal machine operated more quickly in the late 1940s, but Tom is swiftly tried, convicted, and sentenced, and the execution date set—in seemingly record time!

These quibbles aside, I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes! does manage to entertain. Viewers may very well guess who the real killer is earlier than the filmmakers intended for that to occur, but one does get a “I was right!” feeling when the identity is revealed.

Warner Archive’s new Blu-ray restoration brings this little-seen picture out of the vault, so to speak. It looks and sounds great. One supplement is The Symphony Murder Mystery, a 1932 short written by S. S. Van Dine (who was responsible for the “Philo Vance” mystery novels), one in a series of “Criminologist Dr. Crabtree” mystery yarns that were made as short subjects in the 30s (with Donald Meek as Crabtree). Its age shows, but it’s an interesting curio from the era. A second extra is the Warner cartoon, Holiday for Shoestrings, directed by Friz Freleng, a mostly pantomimed musical parody of “The Elves and the Shoemaker” fable. Fun stuff.

I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes! is a welcome diversion into Hollywood cinema of yesteryear.

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