Step Down to Terror

Step Down to Terror
Film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Harry Keller
Produced by	Joseph Gershenson
Written by	Mel Dinelli Czenzi Ormonde Sy Gomberg
Based on	story Uncle Charlie by Gordon McDonnell
Starring	Colleen Miller Charles Drake Rod Taylor Josephine Hutchinson
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Production company	Universal-International
Distributed by	Universal-International
Release dates	1958
Country	United States
Language	English

Step Down to Terror (also known as The Silent Stranger) is a 1958 American film directed by Harry Keller. It is a remake of the 1943 Alfred Hitchcock film Shadow of a Doubt.^[1]

Plot

Johnny Williams (Drake), a psychotic serial killer who returns to his hometown to visit his mother (Hutchinson) and widowed sister-in-law Helen (Miller), both of whom are ignorant of his criminal past. Johnny hopes to settle down and start life anew, but Helen, her suspicions aroused by visiting detective Mike Randall (Taylor), discovers the truth about her beloved brother-in-law. Failing to talk Helen out of turning him in, Johnny methodically plots her murder. When all his plans fail he drags Helen into his car and drives off with her. Knowing Johnny is going to kill her, Helen grabs the keys, and he is forced to swerve to avoid hitting a boy riding his bike, and is killed in the resulting accident. At the memorial service, as Johnny is lauded as a model citizen, only Helen and Mike know the real truth.

Cast

Colleen Miller as Helen Walters
Charles Drake as Johnny Williams Walters
Rod Taylor as Mike Randall
Josephine Hutchinson as Mrs. Sarah Walters
Jocelyn Brando as Lily Kirby
Alan Dexter as Roy the photographer
Ricky Kelman as Doug Walters

Production

At one stage Ross Hunter was going to produce and Donna Reed was going to star.^[2]

References

↑ Stephen Vagg, Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood, Bear Manor Media 2010 p. 58
↑ Kennedy, Field 'Peyton' Favorites; Big Global Group to Honor Disney Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 03 May 1957: 25.

External links

Step Down to Terror at the Internet Movie Database
Step Down to Terror at AllMovie
Step Down to Terror at the American Film Institute Catalog

The films of Harry Keller

The Blonde Bandit (1950)
Tarnished (1950)
Fort Dodge Stampede (1951)
Desert of Lost Men (1951)
Rose of Cimarron (1952)
Leadville Gunslinger (1952)
Black Hills Ambush (1952)
Thundering Caravans (1952)
Marshal of Cedar Rock (1953)
Savage Frontier (1953)
Bandits of the West (1953)
El Paso Stampede (1953)
Red River Shore (1953)
Phantom Stallion (1954)
The Unguarded Moment (1956)
Man Afraid (1957)
Quantez (1957)
The Female Animal (1958)
Day of the Badman (1958)
Voice in the Mirror (1958)
Step Down to Terror (1958)
Seven Ways from Sundown (1960)
Tammy Tell Me True (1961)
Six Black Horses (1962)
Tammy and the Doctor (1963)
The Brass Bottle (1964)
In Enemy Country (1968)

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