Director Michael Curtiz packs yarn with plenty of rugged action thrills, despite society setting. Two chase sequences are especially humdingers for audience chills. Story deals with suave mayhem, with murderer Claude Rains known from the opening crime.
Director Michael Curtiz packs yarn with plenty of rugged action thrills, despite society setting. Two chase sequences are especially humdingers for audience chills. Story deals with suave mayhem, with murderer Claude Rains known from the opening crime.
Plot workings are not as clear as they could have been but motivation of principal characters is followable, as scripted from a Bess Meredyth adaptation of the Charlotte Armstrong story. Rains is seen as radio narrator of murder mysteries who’s not above making his stories actually true. An apparently suave, kindly soul, he’s unsuspected in the death of his secretary, niece and latter’s husband.
Rains pulls out all his thesping tricks to sustain the character, and makes it believable. Joan Caulfield is good as the rich, troubled niece who believes in her uncle’s goodness. Audrey Totter and Hurd Hatfield show up well as the murdered pair, and Constance Bennett peps up assignment as a radio producer.
Jump to CommentsThe Unsuspected
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