I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes Blu-ray Movie Review

Who throws a shoe? Honestly!

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 11, 2021

"Don't be mean to cats" is the lesson learned from William Nigh's forgotten noir I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes. This low-budget 1948 production, based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich about a man wrongly accused of murder, stars a little-known cast and went relatively unseen for decades. Warner Archive's sparkling new Blu-ray, sourced from original nitrate elements and treated with the studio's usual purist-friendly touch, marks the film's first home video release and that alone should pique the interest of die-hard genre fans. It's pretty much a blind buy by default.

Told in flashback by 28 year-old Vaudeville dancer Tom J. Quinn (Don Castle) as he's served his last meal on death row, I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes unfolds as we lean how he got there. One evening, Tom's short temper creates friction with his wife Ann (Elyse Knox), who's home late from dance lessons... and to make matters worse, he can't even get a good night's sleep thanks to yowling cats in the alley below. Frustrated, he throws his shoes out the window to shut them up, not realizing they weren't the ratty old ones Ann pitched out the day before. Unable to find them in the darkness, Tom wakes to find them returned to his doorstep the following morning. Unfortunately, they got some use during the night... right around the same time a wealthy old neighborhood man was murdered, and a fresh shoe-print ties poor Tom -- or at least someone with a similar build -- to the murder scene less than two blocks from his apartment.

The circumstantial evidence piles up once Tom finds an unmarked billfold with $2,000 of "old money" -- large-print bills no longer commonly circulated -- that he decides to turn in to the police but, spurned by Ann and mounting debt, they hold onto it for a week instead. Like that one guy in Goodfellas, though, she soon makes a few big purchases and that basically seals the deal for police inspector Clint Judd (Regis Toomey, most famous for supporting roles in The Big Sleep and His Girl Friday), who quickly arrests Tom in his apartment and grills him about that fateful night. His alibi is pretty weak -- seriously, he threw his shoes at a cat -- and, though it's corroborated by his wife, the case doesn't hold up in court and he's given the death penalty. Desperate to prove her husband's innocence, Ann privately enlists Judd to do a little more local investigation; after all, the real killer might be only a shoe's throw away. Judd's more than happy to help, of course, as he's been infatuated with Ann since his regular appearances at her dance classes.

Capably acted with great dialogue and an ever-twisting narrative, I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes feels like a pretty solid candidate for one of those "forgotten film noir" collections. It's just good enough to stand on its own two feet, but not exactly as an all-time classic: the ultimate twist is predictable (and pretty silly when you think about it), and the late push to make Ann a seasoned detective rings hollow. As for the characters themselves, they're certainly memorable in their own right -- and refreshingly gray-shaded, rather than pure black and white -- but are mostly clichéd within genre boundaries. The film's real selling point is obscurity, which admittedly boosts its appeal slightly and might even warrant a courtesy four-star upgrade on the right day. So while it's a solid B-choice at best, I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes is still well worth watching and Warner Archives' Blu-ray, unsurprisingly, is an absolute stunner from a technical perspective. If you're a seasoned genre fan with little or no memory of this one, you'll probably enjoy the ride.

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Although it's the rare Warner Archive release pressed on a single-layer Blu-ray, I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes boldly carries a torch for the studio's growing list of great catalog transfers. Although shot on a modest budget, the film's prime film noir visuals make it an ideal candidate for WAC's restoration process, which as usual takes the purist-friendly approach with a careful touch and dazzling results. This 1080p transfer is sourced from a recent scan of original nitrate elements, yielding a terrific amount of image detail that really shows off the film's stylish cinematography. True to the genre, shadows play a big role in its overall aesthetic, with silvery greys and black levels that hold up perfectly. On the other end of the spectrum, lighter contrast levels and stray bright whites also shine with no apparent blooming, while its suitably strong mid-range details and strong gradients don't suffer from banding or other harsh compression-related issues. Film grain, as always, is readily apparent and has not been scrubbed away with excessive noise reduction. All told, it's a very clean and stable image that might just be one of the strongest home video debuts in recent memory. This is more outstanding work, as usual, from one of the most reliable boutique labels in the business.

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix cleanly showcases one-channel source material that's obviously been kept in great shape. Conversations are clean and crisp with no sync issues or other defects, whether they're held in a cozy coffee shop or a near-empty moonlit street. There's not much action, gunshots or otherwise, but those moments pack a reasonably strong punch that sporadically livens up this dialogue-driven production. The stock score assembled by prolific composer Edward J. Kay (King of the Zombies, Lady, Let's Dance) sounds terrific as well with a somewhat thin but dynamic presence that supports many of the film's most memorable scenes. Although this two-channel split mono track will never be confused for a true stereo presentation, it's a capable effort that gets the job done nicely.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature, but unfortunately not the extras.

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with original one-sheet poster artwork and no inserts, while the menu interface features what might be the most painfully uncomfortable close-up I've seen to date. The included bonus features are minimal -- and not film-specific, unfortunately -- but still very much appreciated.

• Warner Short Drama: "The Symphony Murder Mystery" (21:27) - This vintage 1931 Vitaphone short, based on characters created by S.S. Van Dine, was adapted by Burnet Hershey and directed by Joseph Henabery with cinematography by E.B. DuPar. Fittingly, it concerns two mysterious murders -- in this case, a cellist and music hall manager -- that seem like open-and-shut cases but require a bit more legwork to solve.

• Warner Cartoon: Holiday for Shoestrings (7:22) - Who doesn't love more Merrie Melodies? This musical Friz Freleng production, originally released in 1946, follows a group of helpful shoe-making elves hard at work to the tune of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite. It's not fully restored but looks watchable enough, like its previous appearances on various Looney Tunes DVD sets including The Golden Collection: Volume 5.

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

William Nigh's I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes, produced by Walter Mirisch (In the Heat of the Night), is a largely forgotten film noir that's worth (re)discovering. Some of its characterizations are a little shaky and the ultimate twist is pretty ridiculous, but it's well-acted and still very impressive for a low-budget production -- even if yes, the main selling point is obscurity. Warner Archive takes it in stride with another rock-solid catalog release: this one's got top-tier A/V specs, of course, but its short runtime is offset by a few vintage bonus features. Recommended to the right crowd.