FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK WINDOWS

Burlesque: Blondie is the star of a burlesque show.Bland-Name Product: A note is formed out of a page from 'World Geographic Magazine'-National Geographic, of course.She winds up practicing stripper moves in her bedroom, only to be embarrassed when the butler intrudes. Be a Whore to Get Your Man: When she becomes convinced that Francis is cheating on her with a stripper, Rita decides that Blondie must be offering Francis something she isn't providing.As is so often the case with this trope, the amateur (in this case an author of detective fiction) is better at the sleuthing than the cops are. Alone with the Psycho: Subverted in that Francis deliberately arranges to be alone with the psycho but has Wilfred bring the cops to Davis's dental practice at a pre-arranged time.

It turns out that Blondie and her dentist were in on it together. But she has a cast-iron alibi: she was getting her teeth fixed at the dentist.

The Alibi: Francis zeroes in on Blondie White pretty quickly, particularly after seeing her fuse two matches together like the ones he found on the yacht.

FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK WINDOWS

All this he does without Rita knowing, going so far as to sneak in through second-floor windows of his house late at night so she doesn't hear him come in. Pettijohn-to crime scenes, ostensibly to do research but really to investigate their cases for them Jessica Fletcher-style, much to the irritation of Police Inspector Mason (Alan Hale). Pettijohn really is.Д«ut that's not all! Francis also is an amateur sleuth! He tags along with the police-who know him as F.X. Agatha is talking about a libel suit, if only they can figure out who F.X. What's more, his latest novel Footsteps in the Dark includes thinly veiled caricatures of many members of the Long Island smart set that Francis socializes with. What Rita and Agatha don't know is that Francis has a secret life: he writes detective fiction under the pen name of 'F.X. He lives in a mansion with his gorgeous wife Rita (Brenda Marshall) and surprisingly tolerable mother-in-law Agatha. Footsteps in the Dark is a 1941 mystery film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Errol Flynn.ДЇrancis Warren (Flynn) is a financial advisor who handles the investment portfolios and tax shelters of New York's wealthy.

Footsteps in the dark