Dead Man's Shoes

Grubby transient (Warren Stevens) steals flashy shoes from dead man named Dane. Trouble is, these are size 9's from the twilight zone, which have the magical effect of replacing weak, cringing persona of the transient with strong, criminal personality of the dead man. This sets up interesting sequence in which Dane now occupies Stevens' body, and returns to old haunts to unnerve mistress and gang rival, who hear Dane but see stranger. Fun to watch icy mistress (Joan Marshall) gradually come unglued.

Neat idea, but filmed in straightforward style that adds little to the plot. Stevens does convincing job of altering personality whenever the shoes fit. Good script, even though climactic office scene is disappointing. On the whole, a solid entry.

For me this one lives in the shadow of the 1985 reworking that starred Helen Mirren called 'Dead Woman's Shoes'. The original is a fair fantasy about a homeless man who takes on the personae of a dead mobster. Warren Stevens is more convincing when acting as the mobster's personality whose shoes are now literally filled by the homeless guy. The first transformation is gradual, but after meeting the dead man's girlfriend ,Wilma (Joan Marshall), the shoes cause instant changing when taken off and put back on. The fact that he doesn't look like the dead man puts him in a strong position to go out for revenge on his killer.

Average TZ, generally well carried by Stevens.

Joan Marshall played Herman's wife in the pilot episode of 'The Munsters'.

Here we have a homeless guy who finds a dead body left by the mob. He learns what it's like to be in his shoes. That is literally. He wears his shoes, gains all of his memories and is possessed by him or something. It only happens when he wears the shoes. He seeks revenge against the mob boss who had him killed.

He does manipulate an innocent homeless man. It was hard to tell who was supposed to be sympathetic in this episode. The victim still had to take over an innocent person's life. At least it's implied he'll succeed eventually. Just don't hurt homeless people. It's a pretty unique idea. ***

The bump Nathan 'Nate' Bledsoe is sleeping in an alley. Out of the blue, he sees a body dumped in the alley and steals his shoes and his keys. When he wears the pair of shoes of the dead man, he acquires the life of the deceased gangster. He goes to his apartment where he meets his girlfriend, Wilma. Then he looks for his clothes and weapon, and goes chasing his former partner Dagget, who killed him, seeking revenge. What will happen in this encounter?

"Dead Man's Shoes" is a great tale of revenge in "The Twilight Zone". The plot is intriguing and also funny, with the deceased gangster using a homeless guy to seek revenge. The conclusion with his promise and another homeless man finding the shoes is also funny. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sapatos de Outro Mundo" ("Shoes from Other World")

That's an old saying, I believe, and I always took it to be the point of this story. The episode is a good film noir gangster picture with shoes symbolic of a grand idea that men will always have--- an idea that could have just as easily been about the need to create transportation other than a horse and so on.