In 1944, director Lewis Allen made a movie called "The Uninvited", starring Gail Russell and Ray Milland. It was a classic of the Ghost Story genre, with all the necessary ingredients : an old house that holds secrets, a shadowy atmosphere, an inquisitive protagonist, tension-building camerawork and editing, and in this case, first class special effects - one of the earliest and most realistic depictions of a "spectre" that I am aware of. I discovered the movie several years ago when it was restored by Criterion, and I bought a copy. For me, it's in the canon of The Scariest Movies Ever Made.
Allen followed up "The Uninvited" with "The Unseen", a title likely to draw the same viewers, and he once again enlisted Gail Russell as his star, this time pairing her with Joel McCrea. Though Russell's personal story is one of the saddest in Hollywood, she was a talented and immensely likable actress with a gift for inspiring empathy. Her specialty was the dedicated but vulnerable young woman. I've only seen her in a handful of films, but she always stands out, and in "The Uninvited" it is her performance that gives the story it's traction. She's not merely a "scream queen" but someone who invests real feelings in her characters.
As a fan of both Russell and "The Uninvited", I'd been looking for a copy of "The Unseen" for years. Every so often I'd check Amazon but no dvd was ever available. Finally, Spooky Movie Dave posted the movie on his Youtube channel. Last night, I sat down to watch it. My anticipation was high.
Russell plays "Elizabeth Howard", the governess for the children of "David Fielding" (McCrea), a widower who lives in an old row house in an unnamed city, likely New York. His kids are a mixed pair. Ellen is a sweet little girl who takes to Russell immediately, but her brother Barnaby, a year older, is a sullen brat. He disobeys Russell at every turn. "I hate you, you're my enemy"!, he tells her. It seems Barnaby had a crush on the previous governess, Maxine, who was fired for an unknown reason. Fielding tells Russell that it's okay to discipline the boy. "Set some limits. It'll do him good". So she forbids him to use the telephone without asking. He's on the phone a lot, always late at night. Russell can never find out who he's talking to, but it sounds like an older person, someone Barnaby is taking orders from. When she asks who the caller is, he says "it's no one". He's entirely uncooperative.
Shortly after Russell moves in, an old woman is murdered in nearby Salem Alley. The police have no clue who did it, but little Ellen tells Russell "it was the man next door, the man who lives in the empty house". Mr. Fielding had mentioned the house. "It's been vacant for twelve years. There's a story behind it, but it's nothing you need to be bothered with". One of the maids hints at a death; the lady of the house. She too may have been murdered. Whatever the reason, it was enough to clear the property for over a decade. No one wants to live there, but apparently someone does, at least according to Ellen. She knows even more : "That's who Barnaby talks to, on the telephone. The man who lives there gives him things to do, and pays him for it". We have a heck of a plot developing.
Russell continues to gently prod Barnaby for information, but he won't name the caller. He's good at changing the subject. For his part, Mr. Fielding has given up on the boy. He's an absentee father who's never home much, and when he is, he's usually entertaining a guest. "Dr. Charles Evans" (Herbert Marshall) is a frequent visitor.
One night, after the children have gone to bed, Russell hears a noise in the cellar. When she goes down there to investigate, she finds a watch that belonged to the old woman murdered in Salem Alley. Mr. Fielding tells Elizabeth again not to concern herself with anything but her duties. By now, though, she's getting pretty scared. Dr. Evans advises her to lock all the doors and windows at night, which she does, but it does no good because little Ellen reveals that Barnaby is unlocking the front door after she goes to bed. Someone is entering the house in the middle of the night, and it's obviously the phone caller. But who is he? And did he plant the dead woman's watch, or was it already there, in the cellar?
If you want a layered story, this is the movie for you. The problem is that it grows too complex for it's own good. At first, because of the title and the return of Gail Russell and director Lewis Allen, I was expecting another ghost story, perhaps a sequel to "The Uninvited". But "The Unseen" turned out to be a murder mystery with everything hanging on Who Done It. It's got atmosphere galore and the same flair for suspense that Allen brought to the first picture. But it becomes so convoluted that it's hard to follow at times. Too many characters are introduced. For instance, all of a sudden a woman comes to the door, announcing that she is the owner of the empty house. "I've returned after all this time to sell it". Okay, but if so, why knock on Fielding's door? It's meant to deepen the mystery, but all it does, in my opinion, is muddy the waters.
The screenplay was adapted from a book, and this woman becomes a central character, but in the film her appearances are so sporadic you find yourself asking, "what was her motivation again"? There just wasn't enough room in an 82 minute movie to develop her plot thread. Had they cut out the different maid characters, and the pointless "Maxine" subtheme, they could've devoted more time to the lady who owns the empty house. It would've really helped untangle things. A final complaint is the score. Music can be an enormous asset to any film, especially a mystery, but they overdid it here. Every bump in the night, every trip down a darkened hallway, every move anyone makes is cued by trilling violins, which rise to a crescendo before the scare. It's waaay too much. The thing is, Gail Russell's performance is so good, they didn't need to accentuate anything. She carries the movie. Allen should've trusted her.
It's still a good film, but the story simply gets out of hand. Had Allen and his screenwriter worked harder to contain it, they could've had another classic along the lines of "The Uninvited", albeit a melodrama rather than a horror movie. I'm still gonna give it Two Solid Thumbs Up, mainly because of Gail Russell and the aforementioned technical excellence. It's well worth seeing. It just could've been better. ////
I'm just getting home after my latest work cycle at Pearl's. Once again I've finished this review in a mad rush, just to get caught up, so please excuse poor sentence construction where it exists, and any typos as well. Check back for a corrected version tomorrow morning. Thanks.
That's all for the moment. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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