What makes it different from others?

A Disappointing Continuation

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

In the late 1940s and into the 50s, Lawrence Tierney made a niche for himself starring in film noir pictures. His characters were cold, menacing and without remorse...exactly what you'd want in these sorts of movies. Sadly, while Tierney is in "Step By Step", it's not a noir film at all but a rather tired and uninteresting murder mystery involving neo-Nazis.Johnny (Tierney) has recently returned from serving in the US military during WWII. He sees a very pretty lady, Evelyn Smith (Anne Jeffreys) and soon his lust for this woman draws him into a plot involving murder and post-war Nazis! It seems that Smith learned too much and was taken prisoner and they substituted her with another woman...and Johnny recognized the switch. However, he soon is himself accused of murder and he and the real Smith are sent on a wild chase by the authorities. Can goodness, Americanism and niceness prevail?!This is a silly film with some bad clichés (such as the stranger that automatically believes the pair and helps them evade police). Not terrible...but also not very good and completely lacking in grit. Simply a B-movie...a B that came out a year too late considering its Nazi connection!

From somewhere "back east," pretty blonde Anne Jeffreys (as Evelyn Smith) arrives on the Southern California coast to work for a US Senator. Because he is to receive some delicately "top secret" information about Nazis plotting a post-World War II comeback, Ms. Jeffreys is sent to the beach for a swim. Comely filling her striped bikini, Jeffreys attracts wolf whistles, a "Hubba, hubba!" and binoculars from handsome ex-Marine Lawrence Tierney (as Johnny Christopher). Changing into his bathing trunks, Mr. Tierney moves in for a closer look. Despite having a cute little dog "Bazooka" and a beefy frame, Tierney is rebuffed on the beach and Jeffreys goes home. Accidentally locked out of his car after his own swim, Tierney goes to the Senator's mansion to ask Jeffreys for help...There, Tierney is told Jeffreys doesn't exist and is introduced to another blonde claiming to be the Senator's secretary...Producer Sid Rogell's bottom-billed B-picture is intriguing and well-paced. No doubt "Step by Step" pleased many filmgoers more than whatever accompanied it on a double-feature or matinée. The plot is typically silly and melodramatically played, but never tries to be anything else. Veteran director Phil Rosen know the territory and moves it briskly. Paul Sawtell's soundtrack music appropriately evokes old Hollywood serials. Often cast as a hardened criminal, Tierney is fine as a hero –he should have been cast this way more often. He and "Bazooka" are a good team. Jeffreys is lovely. Leading the capable supporting characters is almost impossibly helpful ex-Marine motel manager George Cleveland (as Caleb Simpson). This is not a bad way to fill an hour, if you've got one.******* Step by Step (8/23/46) Phil Rosen ~ Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, George Cleveland, Phil Warren

The very model of the fast-paced, short, inexpensive, utterly routine B features the studios ground out in the 30s and 40s to supplement the elaborate A features in the theater.Lawrence Tierney is a tough guy with a shaggy little dog named Bazooka. Much is made of his having just been discharged from the Marine Corps where he was evidently a Platoon Sergeant in the Pacific. This was 1946, possibly shot in 1945, just after the war. If you were going to play a good guy, you had to have served. (But not in the Coast Guard.) Tierney can't act. It doesn't matter. Things happen so fast -- what with everyone in pursuit of some secret documents that are never described -- with the fist fights, the murders, the intrigues, the funny old codger who runs the motel where Tierney and his newly acquired blond girl friend hide out, that no one, even someone who really cares, can possibly care.You don't want to blink otherwise you'll miss some sock on the jaw or a tin lizzie cresting the surf off Malibu Point. You're unlikely to thrill to an artistic masterpiece but you're not likely to fall asleep either.

Step By Step plays like a feature version of an old time serial. Jam-packed with fist fights, auto chases, Nazi spies (still causing trouble in the pre-Cold War year of 1946), comedy, a little romance, and lots more, Step By Step also features an attractive lead couple in Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys. Director Phil Rosen's bread and butter was short and sweet Poverty Row programmers, and this is one of his best. Great fun on a low, low budget.