THE UNHOLY FOUR (1954)

Philip Vickers, whom everyone calls Vic, walks into his big country home where his wife is throwing a party. He causes quite a sensation because he's been missing, presumed dead, for four years. He'd been with three business partners (Bill, Job and Harry) on a fishing trip in Portugal when he apparently slipped over the side of the boat and was never seen again. He remembers a voice threatening him, a blow to the head from behind, then blackness, then amnesia. His memory back, his return indeed proves a disruption to the friends and to his wife Angie, who appears to have taken Harry as a lover; in fact, she faints when she sees Vic. As Vic hopes his memory will clear even more so he can identify his would-be killer, Harry is found dead, and Vic thinks his wife did it to get him out of the way, and even wonders if she was involved with the initial attack on him. Meanwhile, we discover that Joan, Angie's secretary who lives in the house, resents Vic because her father killed himself years ago after some financial problems which were laid at Vic's feet. Vic sends Joan away to isolate himself with Angie in an attempt to reestablish their relationship. When a company accountant named Sessions is found dead, pressure increases on the police to straighten out the tangled motives and secrets of Vic and Angie and friends.

Frankly, my attention wandered a bit during the running time of this sluggish melodrama so I may have a few of the details off. I blame lackluster direction; the script is promising and most of the acting is adequate, with William Sylvester (Dr. Floyd in 2001) as Vic and Alvys Maben as Joan especially good. Unfortunately, Paulette Goddard, in one of her last screen roles, is atrocious as Angie. Her first few scenes are fine (she pulls off her faint convincingly) but after that, she's all downhill, with her big eyes and her squeaky little-girl voice that does not fit the character. Though I was interested enough to care about Vic's fate, most of the other characters didn't engage me, and by the time the solution was presented, I didn't care. I liked seeing this other side of William Sylvester (pictured at right); we wonder for a while how far he might go in seeking revenge, and though this isn't really a film noir, his character would have made a good noir lead. Based on a crime novel by actor George Sanders (actually ghostwritten by sci-fi author Leigh Brackett who went on to contribute to the script for The Empire Strikes Back). The YouTube print I saw is in the wrong aspect ratio--it looks like a more or less full screen movie that got stretched to widescreen. Also released as The Stranger Came Home. [YouTube]