Step by Step (1946)

Using a white lie, young Evelyn Smith is able to get a sensitive job as secretary to Senator Remmy. They will be working out of the senator's isolated and usually unused Malibu beachfront house. The current case they will be working on is one of national security, that despite the fact of the war being over. Things take a turn when the senator's associate, James Blackton, is murdered in the house, Evelyn bound and gagged, and the senator knocked unconscious with a serious concussion by some German spies. Johnny Christopher, a war veteran with the Marines who met Evelyn earlier that day at the beach in his attraction to her, knows that there are unusual goings-on in the house, and is able to rescue Evelyn in the process. However, Johnny and Evelyn become the chief suspects in the senator's beating and Blackton's murder. As Johnny and Evelyn go on the run, they have to keep themselves safe while trying to clear their names by finding the three Germans. What they are initially unaware of is that the Germans did not find what they were looking for, namely a top secret document which lists them, among others, as being spies, which leads to them trying to find and retrieve the hidden document while they also try to dispose of Johnny and Evelyn.