I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes

William Nigh’s I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes is a weird film that barely works on a narrative or theatrical level, but the story is so unusual (it hinges on a man throwing his dancing shoes out the window at a cat) that it manages to keep viewers engrossed for the full 70 minutes. (The source material, a novella by noir stalwart Cornell Woolrich, is probably a key factor.) Just hours before his scheduled execution, professional dancer Tom Quinn (Don Castle) recounts how he was arrested and convicted for murdering a neighbor when footprints from his dancing shoes were found at a murder scene next door. Racing against the clock, his wife and dance partner Ann Quinn (Elyse Knox) manipulates Detective Clive Judd (Regis Toomer) into helping her reinvestigate and clear Tom’s name (Ann’s assignation with Judd inside a dark abandoned building on Christmas Eve is as compelling as it is strange.) Distributed by the impoverished Monogram Pictures, the film’s low budget is evident in plenty of areas, including some unconvincing performances and sappy stock music, but Nigh and crew punch above their weight visually, creating thick, low-key atmospherics in scenes such as the perfectly staged and lit police interrogation under a saucer-shaped lamp. For a more dramatic noir about a married dance team embroiled in murder, check out Asbjørn Andersen’s John and Irene (1949).