Rent Footsteps in the Fog (1955)

Classic Horror Thriller - Footsteps in the Fog review by NP

This is the kind of rich, expensive, epic, matinee horror thriller from Columbia that belongs very much in the 1950s when it was made. That's not to say it has dated, or is in any way a relic, but that the meticulously measured performances ad intelligent writing tells an adult tale without ever stooping to gratuity of any kind. You think you'd get that now, especially in a big budget production?

Stewart Grainger plays Stephen Lowry, an initially sympathetic character. The audience's goodwill dissipates rapidly however, when he maltreats the family cat: some things a hero should never do. He is guilty of even worse, too, but that's not for this review. Suffice it to say that he meets his match and it's then that things become really interesting. Jean Simmons is Lily Watkins, another character who holds our sympathies - but should she? Such is the nature of this terrifically twisting plot that you never really know.

The intrigue takes on a darker turn and thus provides the thrust of the story. All this in a richly furnished, luxurious house that quickly becomes cold and unfriendly - a terrific setting for the bleak drama, all furnished with a host of well-known faces like Victor Maddern, Bill Travers, Peter Bull and the original Doctor Who, William Hartnell. My score is 8 out of 10.

Costume melodrama. - Footsteps in the Fog review by Steve

Extravagant historical melodrama of the kind that made Stewart Granger a star a decade earlier. Here he appears opposite his real-life spouse Jean Simmons as an unscrupulous, aristocratic brute who murders his rich older wife. Simmons is the Cockney maid who uses her insider knowledge to rise up the household hierarchy with a view to assuming the title of mistress.

But master has his eye on another wealthy woman, an imposing blonde (Belinda Lee). The only sure solution is for him to bump off the inconvenient servant. The emotional fluctuations of their power struggle occasionally defy probability. But this is melodrama, so that hardly matters. The film is a rich indulgence, and fast paced, with a splendidly ghoulish climax.

Arthur Lubin was a minor director but he creates plenty of suspense and atmosphere. Theres a lavish production shot in Technicolor, with splendid interiors and costumes and horse drawn carriages. Admittedly the external location footage is perfunctory. Most of all, it's the two stars who give the film class.

Their roles are melodramatic archetypes, but Granger and Simmons make them hugely enjoyable. Particularly Simmons as the whipped underdog gamely standing up for herself, but not too wisely. It's an unheralded Edwardian costumer, but immensely entertaining, which generates enough goodwill to overcome its occasional contrivances.