Footsteps In The Fog (1955)

After poisoning his wife and getting away with it, a man (Stewart Granger) is blackmailed by the household's drab little maid (Jean Simmons) who's discovered his secret. Then it becomes a deadly cat and mouse game as she becomes more and more controlling as he falls in love with another woman (Belinda Lee). Will he attempt another murder to break free from her clutches? Or will she outwit him and keep him under her thumb? All kinds of wicked twists and turns occur as they play a deadly game. Based on the short story THE INTERRUPTION by W.W. Jacobs and directed by Arthur Lubin (BUCK PRIVATES). This neat little atmospheric (gas lit street lamps, thick fog) thriller set in Victorian London is an anomaly in Lubin's career. He's never shown a particular talent for suspense before. Lubin is best known for a series of Abbott & Costello movies like RIDE 'EM COWBOY and the FRANCIS, the talking mule movies. Who knew he had it in him to direct a top notch nail biter like this? Granger, who usually played the stalwart hero, and Simmons, normally a great beauty, must have relished the opportunity to play against type. Benjamin Frankel (NIGHT OF THE IGUANA) did the excellent score and Christopher Challis (TWO FOR THE ROAD) did the elegant Technicolor cinematography. With Bill Travers, Finlay Currie and Marjorie Rhodes.