Step Down to Terror

This film noir has essentially the same story as Alfred Hitchcock's famous film of 15 years previously, A SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943). According to the IMDb entry for Gordon McDonell, he was a writer for both films, though he does not actually appear in the IMDb listing for the Hitchcock film. There are considerable differences between the films. In this one, the happy family has a young son, played by Rickey Kelman. But the Hitchcock film's happy family had a daughter, played by Theresa Wright, who was well known by that time and much older than Kelman. The story in both cases involves the uncle of the children turning up unexpectedly at the family home to stay with them for a prolonged period. The children in both stories have never seen him before, as he is the brother of their deceased father who had been out of touch with everyone for years. The uncle is very handsome and charming and an interesting and well-travelled person. So at first everyone is thrilled. But there is a slight problem: he is psychopathic killer on the run, hence really hiding out with the family. Naturally, the Hitchcock film is superior, in which the uncle is played by Joseph Cotton. But in this film he is played very well indeed by the less well known Charles Drake, perhaps even in some ways more convincingly. The title chosen for this film is rather silly, though it does refer to one minor detail in the story. Rod Taylor makes a significant appearance in the film at an early stage of his career, aged 28, and does very well. The film is certainly effective and is not just a pale copy of the Hitchcock film.

Charles Drake shouts at his landlady who has taken some of the cash he has lying about. She says the next time the policemen ask if he's in, she'll tell them. So Drake goes on the lam, back to his mother's home in California, where he makes nice to her, to Colleen Miller, widow of his brother, and her son, Ricky Kelman. As he courts Miss Miller -- as does plainclothesman Rod Taylor, something darker than expected begins to emerge.

It's a remake of Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT, and on its own terms, it's okay, another Universal movie about the darkness that lies at the heart of sunny 1950s America. Of course, because it's a remake of what happens to be my favorite Hitchcock movie, it seems weak in comparison. Still, for an ordinary programmer, it's all right. With Jocelyn Brando and Ann Doran.

Having acted alongside Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Dennis Hopper and Earl Holliman in 'Giant', the 28 year old Rod Taylor continued to get roles alongside high profile actors and actresses until his big break came in 1960 with 'The Time Machine'.

"Step Down to Terror" is a remake of the Hitchcock film, "Shadow of a Doubt". This alone makes for a very tall order, as the original was quite a picture and Hitchcock such a famous director. But what makes it all worse is that the story itself seemed second-rate at best and really kept little of the suspense that made the original worth seeing.

Charles Drake plays a man on the run from the law...though exactly what he's done isn't clear until later in the film. He arrives in his old hometown after being gone six years. He says it's to see family and perhaps settle down there, but it's really a ruse...he's there to hide from the law.

At first, the family is thrilled he is home. However, his widowed sister-in-law goes from adoring him and welcoming his return to actually confronting him when she thinks he might be a murderer...which is amazingly dumb. From this point to the ending, it all goes VERY quickly and is really disappointing.

The bottom line is that this remake is inferior in every way and I can't think of a good reason to watch it. Stick with the original...unless you want to compare them and see why the Hitchcock version is simply better.

Avoid any comparison with Hitchcock's masterful "shadow of a doubt" ,its remake would suffer ; nobody here can match the Teresa Wright/Joseph Cotten pair ,and the director can't begin to touch the master's genius of suspense of psychological tension .Thornton Wilder and Alma Hitchcock had dramatically enriched the original story ,by creating lots of new characters ,all more colorful than the one before .

In the family where the uncle takes refuge, there are only three persons; the mother ,the widowed daughter-in-law and her son ; the detective (played by Rod Taylor ,later star of Hitchcock's "the birds") plays a more prominent part than in the 1952 version,and he quickly falls in love with Helen ,the niece (there's no love/hate relationship between her and her uncle ) ; the ring is a good trick , so is the crushed bike .The film is rather short (about 75 min) and sometimes the events are too hurried for comfort; the denouement is rather poor and implausible .

Charles Drake is handsome and quite convincing when he charms the old ladies .

Needless to say ,you will always be better off with the fifties version.