The Unsuspected (1947)

Fresh and Exciting

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely the worst movie.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Wealthy Joan Caulfield (Matilda) has her portrait hanging over the fire-place. She's dead. Ted North (Steven) turns up at her house claiming to be her husband but her uncle Claude Rains (Victor) is suspicious. North looks like a Thunderbirds puppet. Secretary Barbara Woodell (Rosalyn) has been murdered in the house but at the moment everyone thinks it is suicide. Or do they? Things need investigating. And who's that getting on a plane….it looks like Caulfield. The film has a glossy, stylish feel to it and you can probably guess what's going on after a bit of initial trial and error. After about an hour, you are in no doubt as to what is going on and it is from about this point where everything becomes clear. And another couple of bodies show up. However, up to this point, I found it confusing. It's badly cast and badly written although still interesting to watch.Who cast Audrey Totter alongside Constance Bennett and dressed them in a similar fashion? They look the fricking same, you ass-holes! Result – audience confusion from the beginning. Also, it is not until about one hour when we discover what the relationships are between Caulfield, Totter and Rains. I'm still not sure I understand it. Are Totter and Caulfield sisters? Very sloppy story-telling. Again, result – audience confusion from the beginning.There's nothing too original about the story and Thunderbirds puppet man is pretty creepy to look at. Rains is good as always. His short stature seems to be highlighted – again poor casting - and it's also pretty obvious who the baddie is given the atmospheric clues, use of dark and shade, timely appearances, etc. You watch it and that's it, really. It's OK.

Many reviewers here call this a "hidden gem," but to me it's hidden for a good reason. Yes, the lighting is interesting, sort of noir Victoriana - the backgrounds are busy but dramatic and distinctive. But the plot is slow and convoluted, and it lacks the crisp narrative style of "Laura," to which some compare it. Poor Claude Rains, who is good in anything, is paired with so many actors who tower over him that his small stature is rather jarringly accentuated in many scenes. Not a total washout, but not a masterpiece either.

The secretary of a wealthy radio star (Claude Rains) is murdered shortly after his niece disappears at sea. Then the niece's husband nobody knew about shows up asking questions. But then the niece turns out to be alive only she doesn't remember the husband. If you think I'm revealing spoilers, all of this happens within the first twenty minutes of the movie! There's a lot going on in this one and I have barely scratched the surface.Very cool noirish thriller with a great director and cast. Claude Rains is excellent as always. I absolutely love Audrey Totter and this is in her top five films for sure. Constance Bennett is fun in a role that seems like it was written with Eve Arden in mind. Hurd Hatfield and Joan Caulfield are also good. I disagree with the reviewer complaining that the murderer's identity was revealed prematurely. This isn't a murder mystery so much as a suspenser where we know who the killer is, just not the how and why. There's a lot of clever business around that. I won't spoil it but I thought the movie was pretty smart with how it handled it. This is a mostly forgotten gem in Michael Curtiz's long and excellent career. If you're a fan of classic films, you should definitely check it out the next chance you get.

The Unsuspected is directed by Michael Curtiz and adapted to screenplay by Bess Meredyth and Ranald MacDougall from the novel written by Charlotte Armstrong. It stars Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter, Constance Bennett, Hurd Hatfield and Ted North. Music is by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Elwood Bredell. A girl has been murdered but the police think it's suicide. A woman presumed killed at sea returns to the family home and finds she has a husband she can't remember. Her uncle hosts a radio murder mystery show where the stories seem spine chillingly real. And of course there's finances to be lost or gained. Just what is going on at the Grandison Mansion? If you don't get a hold of yourself your mind will crack! Not as obscure as it once was, The Unsuspected has emerged as a film noir favourite in spite of its self-conscious style over substance being. With similarities to Otto Preminger's Laura, amongst others, and weakness of plot machinations, you sense that the great Michael Curtiz realised he had to up the ante in the art of expressionistic chiaroscuro to off-set the short fall elsewhere in the production. But boy does he! Aided by Bredell (Phantom Lady/The Killers), Curtiz (Casablanca/Mildred Pierce) produces a masterclass in imaginative direction. Lighting and shadows are used to full effect in portraying the psychological discord that beats constantly in the lavish mansion where majority of the tale is set, a place where paranoia, confusion and claustrophobia finds a home. Silhouettes of crimes committed strike atmospheric chords, as do the uses of bar shadows. As the script merrily trundles out sexually suggestive and witty barbs, the array of characters portrayed with relish by a Curtiz inspired cast, the director also inserts some stunning scenes. A neon sign deftly shot, billowing curtains suggesting turmoil, a bubbling glass of tainted champagne a foreboding presence, and many off-kilter reflections used throughout to represent duplicity or a fractured mind. Visually this is noir nirvana for sure. If only the screenplay was as intricate as it thinks it is, where quite often the story gets saddled with giant implausibilities. As the bodies pile up the motives and means start to come off as daft, which is a shame as the radio inspired backdrop is interesting for the time. There's also a couple of well constructed action scenes, though the editing for the cars is suspect, while Hatfield raises a laugh (intentional?) when in one scene he reminds us he was Dorian Gray two years earlier. A must see on a visual basis for the film noir enthusiast, but the core basic melodramatics of the tale may have you hankering for Laura after all. 7.5/10