Take One False Step (1949)

Take One False Step is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Chester Erskine and starring William Powell and Shelley Winters.

Director – Chester Erskine

Writers – Irwin Shaw (screenplay by), Chester Erskine (screenplay by), David Shaw (novel “Night Call”)

Cast –
William Powell as Professor Andrew Gentling
Shelley Winters as Catherine Sykes
Marsha Hunt as Martha Wier
Dorothy Hart as Helen Gentling
James Gleason as Captain Gledhill
Felix Bressart as Professor Morris Avrum
Art Baker as Dr. Henry Pritchard
Sheldon Leonard as Detective Pacciano
Howard Freeman as Dr. Markheim
Houseley Stevenson as Dr. Montgomery Thatcher
Paul Harvey as A.K. Arnspiger
Francis Pierlot as Prof. Herbert Watson
Jess Barker as Arnold Sykes
Mikel Conrad as Freddie Blair

Watch “Take One False Step” (1949)

Plot

Married college professor Andrew Gentling reluctantly agrees to have a drink with Catherine Sykes, a wartime girlfriend. He is careful to avoid scandal as a founding professor of a new university. However, the next day Catherine is reported missing and is feared to have been murdered after a bloody scarf was found at her ransacked home. Catherine’s friend Martha Wier, whom Andrew had also known previously, informs him that Catherine had been romantically involved with Freddie Blair, a crime partner of Catherine’s husband. Andrew tries to retrieve Catherine’s diary containing evidence of the affair from her bedroom, but he is attacked by a dog and suffers a deep cut on his hand.

Andrew flees but soon hears a news report that the dog who had attacked him was found to be rabid. As doctors in the area have been advised to immediately report all dog bites, Andrew is unable to receive medical treatment and believes that he is dying. Later, he watches in hiding as Freddie is killed by a passing train.

Andrew discovers that Catherine is alive and well and that no crime had occurred. No longer eluding capture, he is told that the dog that had attacked him was not actually rabid; the police had concocted the ruse to force the suspect to reveal himself.