![Still image from the 1941 film Footsteps in the Dark.](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/footstepsinthedark1941.3458.jpg?crop=rect&w=960&h=518)
Footsteps in the Dark
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
An aspiring mystery writer stumbles on to a real murder.
1941 1h 36m Suspense/Mystery TV-G
Expires: Invalid date
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![Lloyd Bacon, Director](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/LloydBacon.7798.jpg?w=200)
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![Errol Flynn, Francis Warren [also known as F. X. Pettibone]](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/ErrolFlynn.jpg?w=200)
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![Brenda Marshall, Rita Warren](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/BrendaMarshall.jpg?w=200)
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![Ralph Bellamy, Dr. Davis](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/RalphBellamy.jpg?w=200)
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![Alan Hale, Inspector Mason](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/AlanHale.1003508.jpg?w=200)
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![Lee Patrick, Blondie White](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/LeePatrick_.jpg?w=200)
Unknown to his friends and family, investment councilor Francis Warren secretly writes detective novels using the pseudonym F. X. Pettibone. One afternoon, Francis has an appointment with Leopold Fissue, a suspicious character who wants to convert his supply of uncut diamonds to cash. When Francis objects, Fissue threatens to expose his secret life, so Francis reluctantly agrees to meet Fissue later that evening. Fissue is late for the meeting, however, and eventually Francis leaves without seeing him. Police inspector Mason, who knows Francis as Pettibone, ridicules his latest novel, stating that real crimes are not so easily solved.
When Fissue's body is found on his yacht, Francis, convinced that Fissue was murdered for his diamonds, decides to prove Mason wrong. A series of theater tickets leads Francis to burlesque dancer Blondie White, who has a habit of holding two matches together until they fuse. Having found two fused matches on the yacht, Francis is convinced that Blondie murdered Fissue, but her dentist, Dr. Davis, swears that she was in his office at the time of the murder. Meanwhile, Francis takes Blondie dancing as part of his investigation and is seen by friends of his wife Rita. Rita believes that Francis is having an affair and hires a private investigator. Blondie tells Francis that she must leave town to escape her ex-husband, Ace Vernon, and asks him for money. She also asks him to retrieve her suitcase from a storage locker. W...
![Still from Ben Mankiewicz Intro](https://prod-images.tcm.com/img/global/tcm-clip-no-image.png?w=200)
![Still from Original Trailer](https://prod-images.tcm.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i345/footstepsinthedark_tr_223x104_10062014023512.jpg)
According to information included in the file on the film in the USC Cinema-Television Library, Lazlo Fodor wrote a play in German called Katzenzungen under the pseudonym W. George Selous. The play was adapted into English by Bernard Merivale, with additional dialogue by Jeffrey Dell, and was given its only production in London. It was produced as Blondie White but different drafts of the play were variously titled The Case of Blondie White and Footsteps in the Dark as well as Blondie White. According to a June 12, 1940 news item in Hollywood Reporter, Edward G. Robinson was to have starred in the film.