The Unsuspected

'The Unsuspected's' main attraction was the cast, especially the rarely, if ever, less than great Claude Rains who is reason enough to watch any film on his own. Also the director Michael Curtiz, responsible for directing two of my favourite films 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' and particularly 'Casablanca'.

Loved 'The Unsuspected's' concept, the sort of film that has always been right up my alley, and it looked like it would be a little gem. Although it was not quite a gem, 'The Unsuspected' has a lot going for it and is a very good film sadly undervalued today, it deserves much more than relatively unknown status. It could have been better, but it is far from a waste of potential and the things that made me watch it in the first place don't disappoint.

It's not perfect. It does try to do too much in the plot, meaning that some parts are over-stuffed and convoluted. This sometimes hurts the plausibility.

Joan Caulfield also seemed a little bland to me in a slightly colourless role, but that is partly down to that the rest of the cast are stronger and their characters more interesting.

Especially true to this are Rains, who is as commanding and urbane as ever, and Audrey Totter on deliciously acidic form. Constance Bennett has the right touch of brittle and it was interesting to see Hurd Hatfield.

Curtiz directs with ease and control, never letting the pace let up, so the film is never dull and always absorbing despite some story flaws, and with great direction of the actors. It is a lavish-looking film and is rich in atmosphere and evocative mood. The action sequences are deft, especially the climax, the noir-ish suspense is nail-biting and the workings of radio aspects are very insightful. The script is always clever and literate, which is a big plus.

All in all, very good but could have been great. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Nice atmospheric thriller with excellent black and white photography and with chilling use of shadows! The film is inspired by both "Rebecca" and "Laura", and maybe "Suspicion" i suspect... The murderer is obvious but it is still entertaining with a good script!

Loveley performances by Hollywood pros like Claude Rains, Constance Bennet and the underrated Audrey Totter always worth seeing!

This was my first Joan Caulfield movie, apparently a starlet at the end of the 40s, a good actress but a bit forgettable. I love these film noirs from the golden age of Hollywood. Golden age of filmmaking, actually...

Michael Curtiz plays a sly game in The Unsuspected – a marvelous mystery that manages to preserve the venerable trappings of the English weekend-at-the-country-house murder (with some of the gimmickry that implies) while setting it amid a nest of Manhattan smart-mouths. He shows us who the murderer is in the first few minutes of the movie (and echoes his revelation several times) but does it so glancingly that it fails to register. And even if it did, The Unsuspected proves such a banquet of writing, acting and visual detail – such as the neon sign on a hotel in Peekskill flashing only its four last letters to a room inside – that it wouldn't be spoiled at all.

Looming shadows stalk through the baronial upstate manse of Victor Grandison (the ineffable Claude Rains), host of a wildly popular true-crime radio show. Next thing, his loyal secretary is hanging from a chandelier (an apparent suicide, but we know better). This ghastly occurrence doesn't faze the house's other occupants – his gold-digging niece (Audrey Totter) and her boozehound husband (Hurd Hatfield), possibly because Totter was on the phone with the victim as she uttered her last scream but never bothered to report it. Or it could be that everybody's still in shock over the loss of another niece (Joan Caulfield), who has perished in a ship's fire while crossing the Atlantic.

Into their lives strides a Mysterious Stranger (Ted North), claiming to be Caulfield's widower. He's received variously: Rains treats him with cordial suspicion, Hatfield with glum distaste (he had a thing for Caulfield, too) while Totter throws herself at him, `vibrating.' And then who should turn up, safe and reasonably sound, but Caulfield herself. The plot is admittedly a little complicated (made more so by the resemblance between North and Hatfield, with their bland, unhappy faces, and between Totter and Constance Bennett, who could pass as her older sister (playing the Eve Arden role of the wise-cracking spinster helpmate). But it's nothing that a few more homicides can't clear up....

With Casablanca and Mildred Pierce behind him, Curtiz was at the height of his powers for The Unsuspected, and Warners plainly gave him full rein for this lavish production. He's matched every step of the way by the wondrous Woody Bredell, who supplies richly detailed, always evocative cinematography (it's a smashing-looking movie). Nor does the script falter: Every line gleams with witty malice. Though Caulfield unfathomably gets top billing, she pales next to Rains and Totter in top form, with Bennett a close runner-up. The movie boasts just about everything.

Why, then, isn't it better known? Usually labeled film noir, it's really more of a high-style ‘40s sophisticated mystery, as was Otto Preminger's Laura (and, like Laura, it hinges on a beautiful young woman, presumed dead, who unexpectedly re-emerges). But while Laura receives reverent homage as an evergreen classic (`They don't make ‘em like that anymore'), The Unsuspected remains relatively unknown except to fans of the noir cycle. Yet it's every bit at good a movie – certainly no less plausible – and honed to an even finer level of elegance. Go figure.

For his final film on his Warner Brothers contract Claude Rains got a starring role instead of being in support of one or two of Warner's name contract leads. Rains plays Victor Grandison the host of a radio mystery show where he narrates crime stories. He's a most popular host with good Hooper ratings I'm sure. Hooper by the way was the equivalent of the Nielsen ratings for television.

Rains lives well courtesy of his niece Joan Caulfield who has some large inherited wealth. There's another niece Audrey Totter who lives with them and her husband Hurd Hatfield, but not happily.

One of Rains's aides at the radio station is murdered. Then Caulfield is reported missing at sea. Before she's found Ted North arrives at the estate claiming to be her husband, but she can't remember getting married.

A couple of more deaths occur and always Rains is The Unsuspected one. What he is is a master manipulator of people and events.

The key to it all is North who is definitely not what he seems. Also Constance Bennett is around who works at the radio station. I liked her, but she's got a most ill defined role. And we never do learn why the first aide is killed.

Nevertheless Claude Rains is really giving a performance that they ought to show in acting classes. So many emotions, so subtly conveyed.

For Claude Rains fans everywhere.

I liked this bit of film noir. The story is a bit confusing and it lacks a solid foundation for introducing and developing characters. Unlike most films, this film might have been over edited. Another 10-15 minutes of character development might have helped.

Now having said all that, what I truly liked about this film is that it is set during the golden age of radio. Its nice to have a contemporary view of this now lost and long forgotten world. We get to see a production of an "old time radio" program. We see how sound was recorded before taping became practical. Claude Rains' character is a narrator of a spooky, murder mystery radio show very much along the lines of popular radio programs such as "The Whistler" or "Suspense" or "Lights Out." Rains was perfectly cast in this role. His "radio voice" hearkens back to the day when "the Man in Black" or "the Whistler" kept millions of Americans entranced by the glowing dial in their darkened den or bedroom.