The Unseen (1945) User Reviews (27)

Salem Alley Shenanigans.

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 23 October 2017]

The Unseen is directed by Lewis Allen and collectively written by Hagar Wilde, Ken Englund and Raymond Chandler. It's adapted from Ethel Lina White's novel "Her Heart in Her Throat". It stars Joel McCrea, Gail Russell, Herbert Marshall, Phyllis Brooks and Isobel Elsom. Music is by Ernst Toch and cinematography by John F. Seitz.

Elizabeth Howard (Russell) is hired as a governess for David Fielding's (McCrea) two children. With David being secretive and strange occurrences happening, she begins to unravel the mystery of the empty house next door.

Foolishly seen as a follow up to the far superior "The Uninvited (1944)", The Unseen is efficient without really rising to thrilling heights. Taken as a mood piece it scores favourably, lots of shadows, cobbled streets, darkened rooms and plenty of suspicious goings on, but as a mystery it falls flat. It gets off to a mixed start, with a grisly murder bogged down by a clumsy narration, from there we are on board with Russell's governess who gets more than she bargained for in her new employment. A number of characters drift in and out of proceedings, but the villain of the piece is evident from the get go, and it builds to a disappointingly flat finale.

A sort of weak companion piece to "Gaslight" (original and remake) and "The Innocents", it's not recommended with any great confidence. Those looking for better and similar tonal fare from Lewis Allen are advised to seek out the aforementioned "The Uninvited" and "So Evil My Love (1948)". 5/10

A Few Chills

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 11 November 2020]

A governess walks into a situation that tests her mettle. The father is cold and unfriendly and while she makes friends with the little girl, the boy immediately despises her. The pacing is weak and the plot rather stretched, but it keeps one's interest. There is some gaslighting going on, but mostly its a very basic mystery. The little boy is really quite good in his derisive role. Some of the significant events unfold too fast and we really don't understand why people keep coming and going.

What I Saw On The Screen

[boblipton · 6/10 · 28 February 2020]

Gail Russell becomes governess to Joel McCrea's two motherless children. McCrea is a moody fellow. He gets sleeping pills from neighborhood doctor Herbert Marshall, and says that his children were spoiled by their unseen grandmother. The girl, Nona Griffith, is a sweet little thing, but the boy, Richard Lyon, takes a dislike to Miss Russell, seems to have a lot of money, and makes phone calls he says he didn't. Miss Griffith also tries to keep secrets. The house is an old, gloomy, run-down place, and after midnight there are signs that there's some stranger there.

It's an Old Dark House movie, and the unraveling of its mysteries make up the bulk of its length. Miss Russell goes through the movie with an expression of wide-eyed innocence that formed the basis of her star persona in this period. She stands in for the audience as a spectator to the disquieting behavior around her. McCrea shows that his distracted comedy shtick can be applied to drama as well.

Despite Raymond Chandler being one of the screen writers of this movie, I thought it depended far more on the atmosphere of the movie than the substance of its plot. Director Lewis Allen and cinematographer John Seitz offer that in gobs, and the actors so their jobs well enough to provide a good movie, if the audience be willing. It's an efficient studio picture that kept me interested through the end.

The Sad, Soulful Eyes of Gail Russell

[kidboots · 20 August 2011]

Gail Russell was beautiful and sensitive and may have had a long, happy life if she had not become a movie star. She was contentedly working toward a career as a commercial artist when she was discovered at high school and given a Paramount contract. By the time of "The Unseen" she was already developing a drinking habit which was the only thing that could steady her nerves before the cameras. "The Unseen" was obviously designed to be a follow up to her big hit of the year before, "The Uninvited".

The sad, soulful eyes of Gail Russell are put to good use as she plays Elizabeth Howard, who finds a job as a governess in the Fielding household. The blurb on the back of my DVD seems to be the plot for a completely different movie as there is no mention (in the movie) that husband Dave Fielding (Joel McCrea) is suspected of causing his wife's death. Also the oft repeated comment that this movie was a poor relation of "The Uninvited" is simply not true. Based on a story by the popular Ethel Lina White (her "The Wheel Spins" became "The Lady Vanishes" and "Some Must Watch" became "The Spiral Staircase") and with the help of Raymond Chandler on the screenplay, it meshed "The Turn of the Screw" with "Gaslight" to produce an eerie mystery. It didn't have "The Uninvited"'s production values and it didn't have the haunting theme of "Stella By Starlight" but it was still a very creepy thriller.

Elizabeth finds the children distant - Ellen has a scrapbook containing accounts of the Salem Alley murder, a recent sensational crime that has gripped the neighbourhood and Barney (Richard Lyon, adopted son of Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels, gives an excellent performance) has strange phone conversations with "unseen" people. Both children need an understanding friend. Shadows of "The Turn of the Screw" as Elizabeth fights the influence of a governess who was dismissed for being a bad influence on the children. Barney not only collects money off persons unknown, he also communicates with a mysterious stranger who comes and goes from the house at will - thanks to an open door courtesy of Barney. It turns out to be Maxine (Phyllis Brooks) the old governess and boy, is she a toughie!!! It doesn't take Barney long to realise he has been loyal to the wrong person. Another interwoven plot (ala "Gaslight") concerns the boarded up house next door that was the scene of a murder 12 years before and now seems to have night wanderers!!

As another reviewer remarked, it is pretty clear who the murderer is - it was never going to be Joel McCrea!! There are several characters who pop up - kindly doctor (Herbert Marshall), Isobel Elsom as the woman who owns the house next door, her husband had been the murder victim Elizabeth Risdon as the sour housekeeper and Tom Tully as a red herring. The movie ends abruptly - within 60 seconds of a showdown in the library, the murderer is caught and there is still time for a clinch and jokes on the stairs. It's like the director is saying "We have 60 seconds to finish this movie guys so sharp's the word"!!!

Recommended.

The innocents

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 27 July 2021]

Lewis Allen brilliantly succeeded in his fantasy and horror movie "the uninvited" which avoided the paraphernalia of the genre: the threats were suggested, the ghosts were never shown ;the atmosphere,the noises created anguish , and it paved a reliable way to superior works such as Wise' s 'the haunting" (1963)

"the unseen " is more of the same ,but it's less successful ; there's similarities with Henry James ' "turn of the screw " tranferred to the screen by Jack Clayton as "the innocents" (1961) starring Deborah Kerr ,the children are not unlike Miles and Flora.

"The unseen" creates a disturbing atmosphere (helped by Gail Russell's superb eyes ) but the screenplay drags on and the denouement is finally rather disappointing ,considering the good ideas which promised more : the little girl's scrapbook with fairy tales (Snowwhite) pictures which ,unexpectedly,contains a news item depicting a murder in the house next door .

The fans of the unfortunate Russell would not want to miss this one, but they should see "the night has a thousand eyes" (1948),based on a William Irish novel,where her eyes match the stars in the dark night.

When is a ghost story the same as mystery suspense?

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 29 December 2017]

Although he had been under contract for a number of years, Raymond Chandler still hadn't found his "write" niche at his home studio, Paramount.

True, his assignment to "The Unseen" (1945), seemed ideal - at least on paper.

Based on a book by Ethel Lina White (who wrote the original novels for both Hitchcock's Lady Vanishes and Siodmak's Spiral Staircase), the movie somehow ended up as more of a lightweight ghost story than mystery-suspense.

Spooks were not Chandler's forte, but he was brought into the picture to give the supernatural proceedings a bit of rationality.

Chandler did his best, but complained to all who'd listen that it was time the studio used his talents in the right direction. Finally, the contractee's voice was heard by studio management. Given the go-ahead for an original suspense thriller, Chandler set to work on "The Blue Dahlia" (1946).

It's tempting to write that "The Unseen" was unseen, but that would not be true. The movie was reasonably successful. Not big money, mind you, but enough to keep the wheels turning!

okay mystery

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 22 August 2019]

Unlike what some sites say, "The Unseen" has nothing to do with "The Uninvited," which also starred Gail Russell. I suspect Paramount was just trying to get more traction out of the success of that movie. The Unseen also stars Joel McCrea, Herbert Marshall, Isobel Elsom, and Norman Lloyd.

Russell plays Elizabeth, the new governess for the two young children of a widower (David Fielding). The film begins with a murder being committed outside their house, and the victim drops her watch. When Elizabeth arrives, the murder has made the front page of the paper, and people are nervous.

Odd things go on, mostly having to do with the young boy, Barnaby, who makes mysterious phone calls, seems to have more money than he should, and also unlocks the door for someone every night. Meanwhile the house next door has been boarded up for 12 years, adding to a tense and mysterious atmosphere.

This movie is disjointed, with zero character development and rather surprising things not questioned or pursued, almost as if parts of the script was missing.

It's hard to watch the beautiful Gail Russell and realize the downward turn her life was already taking. Lots of sad Hollywood stories, but I'd put hers, Susan Peter's, and Sharon Tate's on top. Unlike Tate and Peters, though, Russell never intended to be an actress. Her beauty didn't go unnoticed once her family arrived in California, and they desperately needed the money a contract would bring. She was too nervous and fragile, and by the age of 36, she was dead from acute alcoholism.

Russell is much stronger as an actress that she was in The Uninvited - it's also a more forceful kind of role. However, it's obvious she's grown from experience after doing several films. McCrea is rather stiff (it's just that kind of role). He probably had to take the role to fulfill his contract.

I saw a bad print so the end was like watching a black screen, but I had the goings-on figured out - too many years of watching this type of film.

The Unseen

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 2 September 2023]

Wealthy widower "Fielding" (Joel McCrae) hires "Miss Howard" (a rather bland Gail Russell) to be the governess to this children - the rather obnoxious "Barnaby" (Richard Lyon) and the rather more benign "Ellen" (Nona Griffith). The young boy likes to wind her up, he has secret telephone conversations and those, coupled with stories about a mysteriously empty house next door, set the scene for a rather torrid time for the young woman who is gradually falling - "Jane Eyre" style - for her boss. He is friendly with a local doctor (Herbert Marshall) and she is befriended by "Marian" (Isobel Elsom) but can either of them help to assuage her incrementally increasing fears as she is certain that something terrible has happened - and may be about to happen again! McCrae doesn't actually feature so much here and when he does he isn't quite the character he needed to be to make this rather ordinary story deliver. The young Lyon is probably the stand-out actor - he really does manage to get under the finger nails, but otherwise it's all rather too easily guessable with performances that are very much join-the-dots. Eighty minutes felt quite long, and though it's not dreadful, it's just all a bit routine with shades of "Gaslight" (1944) to it.

The Unresolved

[JonnyDR75 · 3/10 · 17 February 2020]

I was excited to learn there was a follow up to one of my favorite scary movies, "The Uninvited." Too bad this movie doesn't come anywhere close to the mystery and charm of its predecessor. The film has such great potential, but all of the mysterious plot points revealed throughout the film add up to nothing in the end. For example, what is the point of including the previous governess in the film at all? Barney gets his orders to open the door and leave the elephant in the window as a signal that he's opened the door from the murderer. He's never given any other instructions or destructive orders that we know of, so what's the point of the phone calls, and what is the point of her showing up as the new housekeeper? It's pointless! Even worse, the center of the mystery is the murderer who on a nightly basis enters the house so he can access the boarded up house next door via the basement. Why? Because he is going to clean up the blood from the murder he committed several years before. It's a ridiculous motivation. He cares an awful lot about some old blood stains, but he doesn't seem to care much about exposing himself by murdering the old lady with the watch and the former governess.

'Gaslight' meets 'Turn of the Screw' with great cast and worth a look

[susanleslie2 · 7/10 · 27 December 2021]

1945 Paramount production with a very impressive cast headed up by winsome, lovely and sadly tragic Gail Russell, here barely 21 if that.

Joel McCrea, Herbert Marshall and Norman Lloyd all on hand to add to Miss Russell's ethereal charms and give the film class.

A 'Dark Old House' mystery as most other reviewers have mentioned.

It kept me happily entertained during a snowy December day and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre. Just don't expect the top notch original storytelling of a 'Gaslight' or 'Turn of the Screw' or 'Spiral Staircase' because this one is a shameless hybrid taking from the best.

Still, I give it a 7.

Unseen, but ordinary

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 3 July 2012]

Although The Unseen received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound it is a major disappointment as it was sold by Paramount as a followup to their hit from the year before, The Uninvited. Even the presence of Gail Russell who got her breakthrough role in the previous film, in The Unseen that guaranteed nothing.

I also have to say that my copy of this film in fact had bad sound in it and I attribute that to the manufacturer of this bootleg. It was shocking to read here that The Unseen got an Oscar nomination in of all categories, sound.

Joel McCrea has moved back to the family estate with his two children, both of whom have some issues. Especially son Richard Lyon who seems to have a lot more money than his allowance would warrant. The house next door is boarded up since a murder took place a decade earlier.

Gail is hired by a strangely brooding McCrea who is going into territory inhabited by Orson Welles as Mr. Rochester or Laurence Olivier as Maxim DeWinter. It's unlike anything McCrea ever did before or since. Gail is to be governess to the kids. But she's drawn into all the mystery, especially after a couple of other murders occur in and around that boarded up house.

Such players as Herbert Marshall, Tom Tully, Isobel Elsom, and Elizabeth Risdon add to the creepiness of the film.

But I can't speak for all who will see it, but I was terribly let down in the ending. No other worldly beings doing deviltry to humans, just some very ordinary humans for very ordinary human motives are responsible for all the dirty work.

Joel McCrea decided to concentrate on westerns after this and he did the rest of his career with one exception. It probably was a wise decision.

interesting mystery

[wcfields1880 · 9/10 · 17 July 2001]

Very interesting mystery with Joel Mcrea as a man you just can't understand.Gail Russell gives a great performance as the governess of Mcrea's children and Herbert Marshall is the "friendly" doctor you would never suspect.

Solid cast in dodgy noir horror

[adrianovasconcelos · 6/10 · 27 August 2023]

Gail Russell embodied one of Hollywood's saddest stories: a truly beautiful woman of refined physical elegance who fell in the trap of drinking. In THE UNSEEN, she was at the beginning of her ultimately tepid career, and she shows great touch in relation with kids and with the handsome Joel McCrea who, lamentably, appears only infrequently and for short spells.

Lewis Allen directs this minor noir that purportedly also delves into the realm of horror with some flair, relying on John Seitz's sound cinematography, and solid acting across the board, with Herbert Marshall the ever classy, unperturbed performer despite the wooden leg (I do not easily recall an actor who played evil and good characters with similar charm).

The script is not the film's forte. I could not quite understand the part played by Isobel Elsom, for instance, and the villain's identification struck me as rather tame.

At any rate, with a cast of this quality and beauties like Russel and Brooks, and McCrea's engaging persona, it is well worth a watch - and a re-watch, because Allen tries to keep the action so subtly convoluted that some motivations remain elusive.

Shades of "Gaslight"...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 14 July 2007]

In an older London neighborhood beset with strange deaths and a spooky, abandoned house with boarded-up windows, Gail Russell arrives via Boston to accept job as governess to widower Joel McCrea's two precocious kids; quickly, she begins to realize McCrea's little boy is in-cahoots with the previous nanny and may be covering up a dangerous plot which ties in with the old house--and also with McCrea, whose mysterious comings and goings spell trouble. Over-plotted and yet ultimately slim-seeming co-feature from Paramount, stiffly directed and not very exciting. Heavy-lidded Russell, fresh off her triumph in "The Uninvited", was never an exceptional actress, but here she gives hint she may have become a very good one, and her terse exchanges with McCrea show a much more confident performer than in "The Uninvited". The screenplay, adapted from Ethel Lina White's novel "Her Heart in Her Throat", falls rather early into a disparaging rut, what with Russell continually reporting peculiar happenings to people who don't believe or listen to her, and that final clinch nearly comes out of nowhere. However, for fans of 1940s potboilers like the not-dissimilar "Gaslight", this provides minor enjoyment. ** from ****

******* The Unexplained

[GManfred · 13 August 2019]

This picture has been on TV but I hadn't seen it before. I disagree with some reviewers and I thought it was a first-rate mystery but which was marred by a confusing ending. There was a rush to explain motivations and circumstances, all of which left me further in the dark than before.

The cast was just fine and the tragic Gail Russell was lovely to look at, although lacking some depth as an actress. The dependable Herbert Marshall lends strong support and Joel McCrea is his usual stalwart self. There is a lot to like here until you get to the last 5 minutes; hasty contrivances and omitted rationale are always annoying. Shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY, 8/19.

******* 7/10 - Website no longer prints my star rating.

Of nannies, widowers and cute kids

[EdgarST · 7/10 · 19 December 2021]

Fine little thriller, but the villain is identified way too soon, and the ending is extremely bland, considering all that has passed before, including three murders. In melodramas villains fight a bit more until the end, and romance is built with more nuances and suggestions than in this movie. Even if the direction, script, cinematography and editing are just adequate, it is nevertheless worth a look, especially for the good performances by adults and children in the cast.

THE UNSEEN (Lewis Allen, 1945) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 23 January 2010]

Despite having a bunch of notable credits (novelist Ethel Lina White, screenwriters Raymond Chandler and Hagar Wilde, associate producer John Houseman, actors Joel McCrea, Herbert Marshall, Norman Lloyd and Tom Tully) and an excellent prototype in one of Hollywood's finest ghost stories, THE UNINVITED (1944) – not to mention reuniting director Lewis Allen and tragic star Gail Russell from that same film – it is no surprise to me now that THE UNSEEN has remained unseen {sic} for so long. In fact, I only managed to score a hazy-looking, VHS-sourced copy of it which does the film's only true trump card – the atmospheric lighting – no favors at all. At any rate, despite being hurriedly put into production following the success of that earlier Ray Milland classic, there are no ghosts to be seen or heard anywhere this time around; instead we have a surprisingly unsatisfying combination of "The Turn Of The Screw" (typified by the obnoxious antics of McCrea's elder son to scare newly-installed governess Russell away) and GASLIGHT (1944; by way of the mysterious comings-and-goings in the supposedly abandoned house next door). Marshall is the outwardly benign family doctor who openly despises prospective property purchaser Lloyd, Phyliis Brooks is the dishy former governess who still exercises a strange hold over McCrea's boy and, as a mere red herring, Isobel Elsom is the inquisitive sister of the suspiciously-deceased inhabitant of the house next door!! Apart from the fact that, for the most part, there are no scares or even thrills to be had here, the film also commits the cardinal sin of making its male lead (a hot-tempered Joel McCrea!) unsympathetic for the duration but, then, have him predictably fall for the doe-eyed governess at the very end.

Feeble mystery film, cast wasted, Gail Russell looks lost

[robert-temple-1 · 5/10 · 24 April 2011]

This film was clearly based on a rather feeble story about an empty house, mysterious lights in the cellar, vicious murders committed by a shadow in an alley, and so on, and although Raymond Chandler was brought in as a screenwriter to try to give it some muscle, that effort failed. The direction by Lewis Allen is clearly hopeless. All the cast look ill at ease, as if they had no idea what the director expected of them, and they found the story unconvincing. Herbert Marshall is stiff, and we can see him thinking: 'I'm getting too old for this kind of thing,' and his body language suggests he is resenting the weak direction. It is tragic to see the soulful, velvety-eyed 21 year-old Gail Russell looking so sad and so lost in this film. As for Joel McCrea, not only was he miscast as the grumpy widower whom Russell is meant to fall for, he looks even more lost than Gail Russell does, and flounders around not knowing how to behave. Lewis Allen had the previous year directed the delightful OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY (1944), where Gail Russell played the young Cornelia Otis Skinner with charm and conviction. And it was only two years later that Russell made what was probably her finest film, ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (1947, see my review), which is one of the greatest classics of the screen and captures all of her magical charm. So what went wrong this time? How did the rapport between Russell and Allen collapse? Why does everyone look so uncomfortable? Russell died of alcoholism at the age of only 36 in 1961. By 1950, her drinking was already so serious that she was becoming unemployable. But surely she cannot have become an alcoholic already by the age of 21, in 1945, so that cannot be the cause of the malaise seen in this picture. We know that Russell received a lot of moral support from John Wayne in ANGEL AND THE BADMAN, so that would have pulled her through. In this earlier film, the lack of even the most rudimentary chemistry between her and Joel McCrea is palpable, and it must have thrown her into a depression that she could not relate to him at all, and he refused to relate to her. And, as already noted, Herbert Marshall was 'getting too old for this kind of thing' and probably did not have the energy to try to prop up Russell as he might have done when younger. The two children in this film do very well, and Phyllis Brooks is excellent as the venomous, scheming Maxine. Maybe it could have worked. But it didn't.

Spooky lights in a deserted house raises suspicions

[clanciai · 8/10 · 13 November 2018]

Joel McCrea needs a new governess since they all don't want to stay very long, like also the cooks and the maids, since there are strange goings-on in the house next door, which is all closed up and derelict after a murder committed there many years ago; but Joel's two children, who the governess is for, have some interest in the fishy business, the boy even getting rewarded for letting an unknown stranger into the house at night. Gail Russell as the poor young innocent governess doesn't quite know which way to turn, as she gets more and more involved in a mysterious unpleasantness, but Herbert Marshall is a doctor a few houses away who seems to be a safe terminal; while the sour Joel McCrea is constantly out of his humour, stingy and difficult. The governess with the two children gives you immediate associations to Henry James "The Turn of the Screw", but this is actually no ghost story and nothing like that. It's a logical criminal mystery, which could have been made more of, but as it is it's at least good and interesting entertainment.

An uninvited followup, both convoluted and unnecessary.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 8 April 2017]

Starting off on all the right notes, this mediocre reunion of director Lewis Allen and leading lady Gail Russell from "The Uninvited" is a frustrating misfire. Russell is hired by brooding widower Joel McCrea to look after his two rather bizarre children. There's a boarded up house next door where a nasty old man lived years before, leading to a bunch of strange goings on and ending up in murder. The film just gets odder as it goes on, bringing in a whole bunch of seemingly suspicious characters, causing nothing but more confusion.

This is the type of script that seems pike a bunch of words on paper and no cohesive plot to tie everything together. Some of the characters have no real reason for being there in the first place, wasting such talented character players as Herbert Marshall, Elisabeth Risdon and Isobel Elsom, who should have been more involved in the structure of the plot, being the widow of the man who owned the abandoned house next door. What becomes clear right off is that the only thing that is unseen is a plot line, making this one of the true misfires of Hollywood in the 1940's, and perhaps the worst film of 1945.

Spooky but mellow

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 9 June 2021]

When Gail Russell takes a job as a governess, she's in for a far spookier time than she bargained for. Sure, she starts to have romantic feelings for her employer, Joel McCrea. But he's inconsistent in his kindness and affection for her. Sure, the little girl likes her. But Joel's son is difficult and resentful. At least the neighbor, Dr. Herbert Marshall, is nice and gentlemanly.

There are secrets in the house, though, and secrets in the family. Gail doesn't figure things out right away, which helps stretch the plot of the film. This one's a good spooky choice for Halloween, if you like movies on the mellow, predictable side. I don't think anyone will be surprised by it, but at least you can sink into the comfort of an old black and white movie. If you like the cast, give it a shot. If you're just looking for a scary movie, look elsewhere.

Half a Loaf is Better Than None

[arthur_tafero · 5/10 · 25 July 2018]

Most mysteries in the 2000s lack either atmosphere or good writing. This film lacked only good writing. Hard to believe Raymond Chandler could write a turkey, and even more unbelievable that John Houseman, a true giant in film, could have been the producer. Joel McCrea never made a bad movie as far as I know; but this one is certainly near the bottom of his accomplishments,

One of the problems of the films is its pacing; the movie moves at a snail's pace for an hour or so, and then does the hundred yard dash to tie up all the loose ends in the last ten minutes. I will not mention the ending, but it was rather unsatisfying. Interesting to see McCrea and Herbert Marshall (one of Bette Davis's favorite leading men in a film together. A watchable film, but killed by the annoying children, and having a haunted house next to a mansion. Please.

Annoying Main Character

[brendahnelson · 4/10 · 22 September 2023]

Gail Russell was miscast in this role. She was surrounded by A list actors, but simply was the wrong casting choice. Her almost perpetually upturned eyebrows ( at the center) expressed a frightened,sad,victim demeanor. Even though at times she had to be brave...even stupidly so...which stood out in sharp contrast to her perpetual "pity me" facial expression. In the next decade this type of female character became extremely popular , especially on TV. The type seemed to be a favorite of male writers, and casting directors. In the 50s it was also required that she be able to scream hysterically , cry on cue and to be utterly helpless. Aaargh! ( Also all of them ( including Gail) "ran like girls"...with feet and arms flailing...and in high heels). I don't blame the women so much as the male directors and producers etc. Who were obsessed with the " helpless female" archetype.

Also I disliked the writers interpretation of the original Hugh Walpole story. There are other , better movie-versions that stay truer to the original supernatural story.

Behind That Locked Door

[Lejink · 4/10 · 4 December 2023]

A somewhat murky thriller which sees director Lewis Allen paired with Gail Russell again after their previous collaboration in "The Uninvited" the year before.

This time she plays a governess to the two infant children of widower Joel McCrae in his big dark house. Unfortunately, its location is right next door to an old murder location, which soon enough becomes a new murder location with the original killer returning to the scene of the crime to cover his tracks. To help do this, he bribes the young son who offers him easy access to the murder house by conveniently leaving the kitchen door open at the dead of night.

McCrae is initially severe on Russell, but in time-honoured fashion he later softens towards her and of course she falls for him too, even as the finger of suspicion seems to point towards him. Also on hand is Herbert Marshall's goodly-seeming family doctor and long-standing friend to McCrae. With Miss Russell required to run up, down and around the dark old house in confusion, all the while trying to win over the hostile children and coldly severe McCrae, it seems as if only the warm-hearted doctor is her only ally but things change and all is revealed when the murderer turns up one last time to tie up all the loose ends, although not in the way he'd have hoped.

The great Raymond Chandler helped with the script here which might explain one or two of the plot twists and director Allen certainly cloaks his production with lots of gloom and shadow, perhaps too much, but the narrative seems very derivative and second-hand and one doesn't really detect the hand of Chandler in any of the rather stilted dialogue used throughout.

I wanted to favour this film as I'm a big fan of film noir, liked McCrae in earlier films by Hitchcock and Preston Sturges and quite enjoyed "The Uninvited", but I was all together less convinced by this particular effort. The acting, rather like the writing and indeed direction seemed pretty stiff throughout in a movie which just felt flat and failed to come to life at any point.

Sorry, but I wouldn't have minded if "The Unseen" had stayed unseen, at least on my part.