Walk Softly Stranger (1950)

A mysterious stranger (Joseph Cotten) arrives in a small Ohio town and slowly starts building a life for himself. He begins to court the town's richest woman (Alida Valli) who is in a wheelchair after a skiing accident in Switzerland. But it's only a matter of time before his past catches up with him. Directed by Robert Stevenson (MARY POPPINS), this mixture of romance and film noir is good enough to hold your attention through its running time but it's not particularly memorable. Routine about sums it up. Although it reunites two of the main players of THE THIRD MAN, the material isn't strong enough to catch fire a second time. Actually, it was filmed before THE THIRD MAN but sat on the shelf for two years. Cotten is fine giving a nice ambiguous performance, you're never sure if his feelings for Alida Valli are sincere or is he after her money. But Valli manages to give a rather touching performance, its soapy ending notwithstanding. With Spring Byington, Paul Stewart, Jack Paar, John McIntire, Jeff Donnell and Esther Dale.