The 1940s were filled with World War II propaganda films with the villains being Nazis. The 1946 film Step by Step from RKO Pictures is one such film, bet it a lesser known one where Nazis are still trying to take over the world, this time with a base in sunny California! This is a movie I hadn’t heard of prior to viewing it, and I am pretty sure there are plenty who are probably in that same boat. One notable thing about this movie is that the two stars, Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys worked together before in the Warner gangster classic Dillinger, which was Tierney’s first picture that he received credit for and was a breakthrough role. In Step by Step, his role is anything but a tough guy gangster type.
Johnny Christopher (Lawrence Tierney, Born to Kill), an ex-Marine is driving along the California coast where he sees an attractive lady, Evelyn Smith (Anne Jeffreys, Tarzan’s New York Adventure) walking to the beach in her bathing suit and with his hormones raging, he decides to pursue her, using his pet dog as a conversation piece. After their conversation where he blatantly shows that he wants her, Evelyn heads back to the home of her employer, Senator Remmy (Harry Harvey, Sr., Destry Rides Again). She is then kidnapped along with the Senator. While that is going on, Johnny decides to go follow Evelyn to Remmy’s house where he can continue to put the moves on her. He discovers things are not as they seem and soon they find themselves caught up in a plot involving Nazi spies! Both the Senator and Evelyn have their identities stolen and are being impersonated for the Nazis’ scheme.
Step by Step is a harmless one-hour crime drama. Directed by Phil Rosen, who at the time was the man at the helm for many of the Sidney Toler Charlie Chan films that were on the decline during the mid-late 40s. Step by Step is a film where he injects the same formula and atmosphere. The only real difference is that this film replaces Charlie Chan with Johnny Christopher the ex-Marine to solve the mystery. The cast does a fine, adequate job with their roles, but the movie isn’t going to woo you all that much.
Warner Archive debuts Step by Step on Blu-ray and has been given a fantastic release. The black and white image overall looks excellent, with very little to no print damage. The video is crisp and clean with a balanced grey scale and deep black levels. Details to the scenery is strong throughout with a great deal of sharpness and clarity. Another fantastic job by Warner Brothers in the image department.
Warner supplies an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track for their Blu-ray, with the audio coming in clear with dialog along with other background sounds such as the ocean waves coming in flawlessly. The musical scores by Paul Sawtell also are crisp and not overly aggressive. English SDH subtitles are offered for this release.
Bonus materials include a Warner Short Drama: The Trans-Atlantic Mystery and a Warner Cartoon: The Great Piggy Bank Robbery starring the iconic Daffy Duck, where he plays Duck Twacy. These shorts are just as entertaining as the feature film and are also in HD.
While Step by Step isn’t a well-known household film and is what I like to call a one-hour wonder, I found it to be an entertaining movie. The audio and video quality are the typical Warner high-standards, with a couple of great extras make this a recommended release!
Step by Step
Director- Phil Rosen
Cast- Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Warner Archive / Warner Home Video
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date-8/8/21