Let me say at the start that while TREAD SOFTLY (1952) is not a very good movie, it is an endearing one depending on your taste for backstage musicals, classic whodunits, and British B movies. All three of those factor into TREAD SOFTLY. The basic plot is lifted from 42ND STREET (1933) where the star of an upcoming musical pulls out at the last minute and must be replaced by an unknown. Then there’s the mystery element. The cast must stage their musical in a facility that’s been closed for 40 years. The theater is supposedly haunted which has resulted in a couple of deaths. Who committed them? Finally, TREAD SOFTLY is clearly a B movie as can be seen by its low production costs and largely no-name cast. The headliner Frances Day, who is an American, had been a big star in the U.K. during the 1930s but her part here is small.
The main stars are John Bentley and Patricia Dainton who play the producer and the replacement. Both had steady careers in Brit B movies through the mid-1960s. Dainton, who was not a musical comedy performer, gives it her best shot but the musical score (by Basil Hempseed) does her no favors. However the dance numbers must be seen to be believed as the emphasis is on the male dancers and they are truly having a gay old time. Character actors John Laurie, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, and Robert Urqhart lend solid support but the acting honors go to two ladies. First there’s Nora Nicholson who specialized in playing eccentric old ladies which she certainly is here, portraying the widow of the murdered actor who supposedly haunts the theater. Her final scene is wonderfully theatrical (ie.over-the-top) but the best overall performance belongs to Betty Baskomb’s mysterious secretary.
The real star of TREAD SOFTLY, from a Londoner’s point-of-view, is the theater that was used for the make believe musical. Built in 1898 as a Victorian music hall, the Granville Theatre had a long and distinguished career being everything from a playhouse to a television studio where the Beatles once performed. The theater became a victim of urban renewal when it was demolished in 1971, over considerable protest, to make way for an office block. Here The Grantham is preserved on celluloid for posterity. While it has its rough edges, uneven performances, and skimpy production values, TREAD SOFTLY still manages to entertain. I enjoyed it but then I’m a former actor, a mystery buff, and an Anglophile. I also love old movies. Though TREAD SOFTLY will certainly mean more to a British audience than to an American one, the average movie watcher could see far worse.
