Stephen Lowry’s (Stewart Granger) wife dies, having been poisoned by Stephen. The death looks like gastroenteritis, so no questions are raised. Stephen married a woman older than him and then killed her for her money. Everyone believes he is in mourning. In the house with him are his cook, Mrs. Park (Marjorie Rhodes), the handyman, Grimes (Norman MacOwan) and the maid, Lily Watkins (Jean Simmons).
Lily finds out that Stephen is responsible for his wife’s death. She uses that information to blackmail Stephen into making her head housekeeper. Lily slowly takes over the household and drives the others away. Stephen decides to kill Lily. When she goes out into the fog to post a letter, Stephen follows her. In the fog he beats her with his walking stick but is seen by a couple guys coming out of a pub. He is chased. He makes it back to the house but loses the walking stick.
When he gets home, he finds out that Lily is alive, and he has murdered the wrong person. It turns out that he killed the wife of one of the local constables, Constable Burke (Barry Keegan). Lily realizes that Stephen was trying to kill her and has made arrangements to send her sister, Rose Moresby (Sheila Manahan), a letter that is only to be opened if something happens to her. This knowledge keeps Stephen at bay for a time.
Elizabeth Travers (Belinda Lee) is the daughter of Alfred Travers (Ronald Squire). Alfred is a wealthy businessman. Elizabeth is friends with David Macdonald (Bill Travers) who is an attorney. David is in love with Elizabeth, but she is in love with Stephen. Stephen is arrested and charged with Mrs. Burke’s bludgeoning. Lily comes to his defense giving him an alibi. Elizabeth convinces David to defend Stephen in court. Lily manages to convince the jury that Stephen is innocent and so he is acquitted.
Stephen plans is to marry Elizabeth and inherit from her father by staging another fatal event. He manages to convince Lily that it is all a part of a plan that will make him rich, and he will then marry her and move with her to America. Lily falls for it and sends another letter to her sister telling her to burn the letter that she previously mailed to her. Rose’s husband, Herbert (William Hartnell) reads the letter and decides to blackmail Stephen. At Stephen’s office he mistakes David for Stephen and tries to blackmail the wrong person.
In the meantime, Stephen decides to pretend to be poisoned and plans on framing Lily for his illness and the death of his wife. Things get messy.
“Footsteps in the Fog” was released in 1955 and was directed by Arthur Lubin. It is a British gothic crime thriller with noir elements.
At the time of filming, Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons were married in real life. The film is based on the W. W. Jacobs short story "The Interruption".
What a good movie. Everything was on point with some great actors, an interesting plot and some wonderful atmosphere. What keeps it from being standard are some nice little twists and turns in the story that pits two evil personalities in a battle of wills. I was pleasantly surprised. The movie proves the old agate that there is no honor among thieves.