Vivid film noir, with good storytelling and suspense.

Directed in a grand expressionist style by Michael Curtiz.

Sounded too much like the truth to be true! The Unsuspected is directed by Michael Curtiz and adapted to screenplay by Bess Meredyth and Ranald MacDougall from the novel written by Charlotte Armstrong. It stars Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter, Constance Bennett, Hurd Hatfield and Ted North. Music is by Franz Waxman and cinematography by Elwood Bredell. A girl has been murdered but the police think it's suicide. A woman presumed killed at sea returns to the family home and finds she has a husband she can't remember. Her uncle hosts a radio murder mystery show where the stories seem spine chillingly real. And of course there's finances to be lost or gained. Just what is going on at the Grandison Mansion? If you don't get a hold of yourself your mind will crack! Not as obscure as it once was, The Unsuspected has emerged as a film noir favourite in spite of its self-conscious style over substance being. With similarities to Otto Preminger's Laura, amongst others, and weakness of plot machinations, you sense that the great Michael Curtiz realised he had to up the ante in the art of expressionistic chiaroscuro to off-set the short fall elsewhere in the production. But boy does he! Aided by Bredell (Phantom Lady/The Killers), Curtiz (Casablanca/Mildred Pierce) produces a masterclass in imaginative direction. Lighting and shadows are used to full effect in portrayi…

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