Shelley Winters had already impressed the bosses at Universal by the late 1940s. At this point she'd been promoted to leads in film noir and westerns at the studio. My guess is that she probably was put into this picture, while filming other stuff...since her screen time is limited. She plays an old girlfriend of William Powell's, despite the obvious age difference, and tries to reignite the flame though she's been told he's now married. He's quite happily married in fact, but it doesn't stop her.
She keeps throwing herself at him, first in a bar where they reconnect, then at a party she's invited him to in her home. All this plays out in the first twenty minutes, then she goes missing and disappears from the next hour of the film. We only see her again, for another five to ten minutes at the end to wrap up the story. While Winters is off screen the heart of the film belongs to Powell, whose character is suspected of doing away with her, even though he doesn't exactly have a real motive.
One thing I have to say in Miss Winters' behalf is that she certainly knows how to make the most of limited screen time. She steals the first sequence and after she vanishes, her energy continues to linger over the picture. When she pops up again at the end, she has a very dynamic scene where her character tries to kill herself. Much of it is rather shocking, not necessarily over the top, but she has these important scenes she can make a lot out of, and she definitely does.
As for Mr. Powell, he had recently left his long-time studio MGM and was now freelancing. Under a multi-picture contract at Universal in the late 1940s, he had already made a political satire called THE SENATOR WAS INDISCREET as well as a whimsical romcom with Ann Blyth called MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID. He wasn't lacking for good scripts, that's for sure. And TAKE ONE FALSE STEP, which is written and directed by Chester Erskine, is a fine motion picture with a truly engaging story.
It's interesting to watch Powell forced into pseudo-detective mode in this story, to clear his name. The situation evokes shades of Nick Charles. Plus we also have James Gleason on hand as a police detective, who at first thinks Powell is guilty. Not unlike Gleason's more famous role as Inspector Oscar Piper in RKO's Hildegarde Withers mysteries. The two actors had previously costarred in RKO's THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD which also combined elements of mystery, suspense and comedy. Powell and Gleason are older at this point but they're both pros and they do an excellent job here, reeling us along.
In addition to Powell, Winters and Gleason we have one of Powell's former MGM pals Marsha Hunt. She's cast as a girlfriend of Winters who doesn't believe Powell is a killer and helps him try to find out what happened. In all her scenes, Miss Hunt is poised and most assured. Since she actually has more screen time than Winters, she helps anchor the film with her sensible feminine presence.
One thing I especially enjoyed about this picture is how episodic it is. Powell travels from Los Angeles to San Francisco to clear himself. There are a lot of on-location scenes with him on the road. During this journey, we have some amusing vignettes where he encounters people of various backgrounds who can either help him or get in his way.
A particularly good sequence has Powell "negotiating" with a preteen for information about what the cops know, and ultimately the boy steers the cops in the wrong direction, to buy Powell extra time to find much-needed answers about Winters' fate. Powell's a real pro in this extended bit with the kid. I almost got the feeling that Powell enjoyed letting his costars shine because it was as entertaining to him as it would be for us.
She keeps throwing herself at him, first in a bar where they reconnect, then at a party she's invited him to in her home. All this plays out in the first twenty minutes, then she goes missing and disappears from the next hour of the film. We only see her again, for another five to ten minutes at the end to wrap up the story. While Winters is off screen the heart of the film belongs to Powell, whose character is suspected of doing away with her, even though he doesn't exactly have a real motive.
One thing I have to say in Miss Winters' behalf is that she certainly knows how to make the most of limited screen time. She steals the first sequence and after she vanishes, her energy continues to linger over the picture. When she pops up again at the end, she has a very dynamic scene where her character tries to kill herself. Much of it is rather shocking, not necessarily over the top, but she has these important scenes she can make a lot out of, and she definitely does.
As for Mr. Powell, he had recently left his long-time studio MGM and was now freelancing. Under a multi-picture contract at Universal in the late 1940s, he had already made a political satire called THE SENATOR WAS INDISCREET as well as a whimsical romcom with Ann Blyth called MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID. He wasn't lacking for good scripts, that's for sure. And TAKE ONE FALSE STEP, which is written and directed by Chester Erskine, is a fine motion picture with a truly engaging story.
It's interesting to watch Powell forced into pseudo-detective mode in this story, to clear his name. The situation evokes shades of Nick Charles. Plus we also have James Gleason on hand as a police detective, who at first thinks Powell is guilty. Not unlike Gleason's more famous role as Inspector Oscar Piper in RKO's Hildegarde Withers mysteries. The two actors had previously costarred in RKO's THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD which also combined elements of mystery, suspense and comedy. Powell and Gleason are older at this point but they're both pros and they do an excellent job here, reeling us along.
In addition to Powell, Winters and Gleason we have one of Powell's former MGM pals Marsha Hunt. She's cast as a girlfriend of Winters who doesn't believe Powell is a killer and helps him try to find out what happened. In all her scenes, Miss Hunt is poised and most assured. Since she actually has more screen time than Winters, she helps anchor the film with her sensible feminine presence.
One thing I especially enjoyed about this picture is how episodic it is. Powell travels from Los Angeles to San Francisco to clear himself. There are a lot of on-location scenes with him on the road. During this journey, we have some amusing vignettes where he encounters people of various backgrounds who can either help him or get in his way.
A particularly good sequence has Powell "negotiating" with a preteen for information about what the cops know, and ultimately the boy steers the cops in the wrong direction, to buy Powell extra time to find much-needed answers about Winters' fate. Powell's a real pro in this extended bit with the kid. I almost got the feeling that Powell enjoyed letting his costars shine because it was as entertaining to him as it would be for us.