imb-14

I don't know how I missed this one all these years. The only reason I saw it was that I bought the Boris Karloff DVD collection with The Black Room on it. I found it charming and very funny.

Peter Lorre is a hoot. There are a couple of scenes in which he does some very unexpected things. Maude Ebourne is the best though. A great character actress, she probably had her best role in Ruggles of Red Gap. The scene in which she sleepwalks is hysterical. The Nazi terrorist who turns out to be a mental patient is also interesting.

One commentator compared it to a precursor to Green Acres and I agree. The humor is nearly as offbeat and absurd as that great show.

I have yet to understand the mindset of the major studios putting out clunkers on DVD, yet not paying much attention to the classic movie scene, except for the major hitters. I'm sure it takes more time since many of these need some restoration work and subtitles. However, superb classics such as The Unsuspected (directed by a MAJOR studio director no less)should have some attention paid to them. It's a shame that The Uninvited, the finest ghost story every to appear on film, has yet to be studio released either.

I just noticed that Amazon is touting DVD's that are copied from the TV and put onto DVR's for nearly $30.00! I can get them for $10.00 from Brad Lang.

All that being said, The Unsuspected is lush viewing and has a great script with a couple of sassy broads (Totter & Bennett)tossing off one-liners like hand grenades. There are a couple of glaring plot holes (hence my rating of 9 instead of 10), but I'll forgive that since the film is so wonderful in every other way.