The Unseen (1945)Director:Lewis Allen |
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The Unseen (1945)Director:Lewis Allen |
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Joel McCrea | ... |
David Fielding
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Gail Russell | ... |
Elizabeth Howard
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Herbert Marshall | ... |
Dr. Charles Evans
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Phyllis Brooks | ... |
Maxine
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Isobel Elsom | ... |
Marian Tygarth
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| Norman Lloyd | ... |
Jasper Goodwin
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Mikhail Rasumny | ... |
Chester
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Elisabeth Risdon | ... |
Mrs. Norris
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Tom Tully | ... |
Sullivan
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Nona Griffith | ... |
Ellen Fielding
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Richard Lyon | ... |
Barnaby Fielding
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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.