RogerBob tracked it down. It was Richard Widmark's first film role as the psychopath Tommy Udo. He later told the tale of the audition, where several actors had to play the scene where the wheelchair-bound old lady is sent to her death down the stairs. He claimed he got the part because he was the only one who laughed when he did it.
Ralph, I see what you mean. I think you are recalling the Odessa Steps sequence in Eisenstein's "The Battleship Potemkin", where a basketwork perambulator with a baby in it, trundles down to its doom in front of the advancing soldiers.
I like to think Henry Hathaway had Eisenstein in mind when he filmed the wheelchair scene.
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