Tuesday, August 14, 2018

THE UNSUSPECTED (1947)

Convoluted film noir mystery? You’re soaking in it! I'm not 100% sure I have all the details correct, but this is how the movie played out to me. Victor (Claude Rains) is a radio personality whose specialty is true crime stories. He has two nieces. Matilda (Joan Caulfield) is his legal ward and the inheritor of lots of money which Victor has been handling for her—and some of which he has possibly been misusing. Althea (Audrey Totter, at left), the other niece, stole Matilda's boyfriend Oliver out of spite but now is stuck in a bad marriage as Oliver has taken to drink. Matilda, out of the country, has been reported dead in a ship accident. This is the situation as the movie begins with a shadowy and creepy scene showing Victor's secretary Rosalyn murdered and hung up from a chandelier to make it look like suicide, all while Victor is on the air relating a murder story. Althea knows it was murder because she was on the phone with her when she was attacked, but Althea isn't telling anyone what she knows—yet. While everyone feels bad for Victor's losses, a young man named Steven shows up out of the blue, claiming to have been married to Matilda. The thinking is that Steven has come in search of a chunk of her money, but it turns out that Steven is from a rich family himself. Before the family can get used to this new development, Matilda turns up alive, having survived the accident and spent time recovering in Brazil. But she doesn’t recognize Steven, and insists that they are not married. Obviously, amnesia from her traumatic experience secretary explains this, so Victor and the rest assume. The stage is now set for plot twists, betrayals, and more murders.

I did find this difficult to follow, though ultimately, once everyone's motives are made clear, it settles down into a traditional murder mystery template. But the primary reason to watch this is the shadowy film noir style from director Michael Curtiz and cinematographer Woody Bredell. Nothing quite matches the opening sequence of the murder of the secretary, but the visuals remain interesting throughout. Several times we see the faces of people reflected diamond-sharp in glass or mirrors or, most effectively, in a recording disc—Victor keep records of most of his radio shows, and recordings of conversations are crucial to the climax. There’s a LAURA vibe here due to the resurrection of a character thought dead, though it's handled almost too matter-of-factly here. Many reviews and summaries mention the killer's identity, but, even though it is revealed relatively early (about halfway through), I still think it shouldn't be spoiled. The acting is all over the place. Rains, of course, is very good, but Audrey Totter practically steals all her scenes with her portrayal of a jealous schemer; you can never quite figure out whose side she's on. At times she sounds like Bette Davis at her most devious. Michael North (credited earlier in his career as Ted North) is striking looking and in his first few scenes, he's effective as someone whose motives, as with Totter, are not clear, but as the movie goes on, he recedes into the background with not quite enough charisma to be on the level of Rains and Totter. Joan Caulfield is far too bland to make her character interesting, which is a shame because with another actress in the role, this might have been a truly first-rate noir. Hurd Hatfield does his usual effete male role as the weak Oliver. Constance Bennett is lots of fun as an Eve Arden-type of sidekick. When Rains feels sorry for her because he assumes since she's single that she's never really "vibrated" with the joy of living, she replies, referring to her past, "For six months, I vibrated like a musical saw!" The complicated plot bothered me for a while, but I'm glad I stuck with this. Pictured at right are Totter, Caulfield and Rains. [TCM]

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