Take One False Step

William Powell makes his only foray into '40s film noir as a married college professor whose reacquaintance with a wartime fling (Shelley Winters) takes a bad turn when she disappears under suspicious circumstances. Marsha Hunt plays the gal-pal who tries to help Powell - the prime suspect - solve the crime and salvage his reputation. There's more comedy than usually found in noir - as audiences still expected from the man who embodied the legendary Nick Charles. James Gleason and Sheldon Leonard are the cops pursuing Powell through Los Angeles locations lensed by the great Franz Planer (CRISS CROSS).