Holiday Classics: “I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes” (1948)

You should never throw your shoes at a cat, no matter how much their midnight meowing keeps you up at night. You especially shouldn’t do it if you’re Tom Quinn (Don Castle), a struggling tap dancer who sits at home anxiously awaiting the return of his taxi dancer wife Ann (Elyse Knox) from work, where she’s being courted by a generous client nicknamed “Santa Claus.” And you really shouldn’t do it if you’re existing in a 1940s-era Poverty Row noir. But that mild if reprehensible act is what kicks off a world of trouble for Tom, whose shoes are found later at the scene of his neighbor’s murder— a neighbor who possessed a large bundle of cash. But the financially-strapped Tom and Ann aren’t aware of the murder at the time they stumble across a wallet containing thousands of dollars, the latter talking the former out of immediately turning it over to the police and instead putting an ad in the paper, so that if there’s no response in a few days time they’ll feel justified in keeping it.

I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes is a 1948 film from Monogram Pictures, with sturdy behind-the-scenes talent that elevates its bargain basement trappings: William Nigh directs a screenplay by pulp writer Steve Fisher from a novella by noir staple Cornell Woolrich. The story takes, for this genre, an unsurprisingly bleak turn: the evidence leads to Tom’s arrest and subsequent sentence for execution the Tuesday after Christmas, leaving it up to Ann to clear his name before then. Castle is a capable if not particularly remarkable leading man, but Knox is quite captivating in how she imbues her character with so much resourcefulness and independence, especially when the story turns after Tom is behind bars, allowing her to take the reins as lead— an abnormality for a time when femme fatales typically existed as shady supporting players. It’s aided by a well-rounded if not noteworthy cast (Regis Toomey, who plays the suspicious Inspector Judd, is perhaps the most recognizable name in the cast) and at 70 minutes, it’s briskly scripted and directed, moving along at a pace that maintains intrigue while deterring any excess mulling over of its many twists and turns.

But of greatest importance in this context is that this dark story is set over the holidays. One of the film’s quietest yet most memorable scenes takes place on Christmas Eve. With Tom in jail, Ann spends the festive evening alone, shopping for a tiny tree that she later sits on her bedside table. As the radio plays carols in the background and the announcer prepares children for Santa’s arrival, she unwraps a sweet (and expensive) personalized gift from her absent husband. In a story that otherwise moves quite quickly, it’s a tender pause that highlights how somber and lonely the holidays can sometimes be.

I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes can be watched online here, and is available for purchase on Blu-ray. Runtime: 70 minutes.