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How sad is this?

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I always look forward to seeing a Claude Rains film I haven't caught before. Oh well, you can't win them all. I continued watching this film because I was marveling at just how bad it was...and I realize I'm in the minority here. I do have to make a couple of exceptions to that general statement. Claude Rains is always a marvel to watch. I find him to be a rather unique character actor, and even in this very poor film, he shined.My first problem with the film is that I found the plot to be murky. It stumbled along in a jerky fashion. I was disappointed that the main character (Rains) had become a serial murderer...making it hard for him not to be caught. My second problem with the film was some of the worst acting I've seen in a significant film. Audrey Totter seemed to think that good acting was how she stood or how she held her arms. As far as any believable acting...well let's put it this way...what she displayed here was an unrealistic portrayal of a human being. Hurt Hatfield didn't do much better here. I was thinking that this had to be one of the earliest films of character actor Fred Clark, and indeed, it was his first credited film role. Rains was not the only actor who did well here. Joan Caulfield was very good also.To our reviewers who gave this film a 9...that must have been based on a hundred point scale.

Good-looking but tired noir concoction, adapted from a book by Charlotte Armstrong, surely to be one of the most forgettable titles on the resume of director Michael Curtiz! Young woman thought to be lost at sea returns home alive, not remembering the man she supposedly married but very much aware of the tension in the manor she shares with her relatives. Meanwhile, her debonair uncle, a radio celebrity who spins murder mysteries, is getting very nervous as the police close in on the killer of his faithful secretary. Smart, bitchy society talk and lustrous black-and-white cinematography lend to the film a shiny allure, though the plot is overstuffed with familiar, unabsorbing elements. As the radio star, Claude Rains has a magnificent voice and a funny/sinister presence, but he isn't given much to do and oddly spends a great deal of time hovering around the picture's edges. *1/2 from ****

Deftly directed by Michael Curtiz and starring a slew of first-rate entertainers such as Claude Rains, Audrey Totter, Constance Bennet, Hurd Hatfield, Joan Caulfield, and the always overlooked Fred Clark, The Unsuspected seems to be in the shadow of other film noir films of the decade(at least by many of the review accounts on here)most notably Laura with Clifton Webb and Gene Tierney. Well, I love Laura and think it is a first-rate film - it is a different kind of film as well. The Unsuspected is generated by different goals and objectives by the lead "killer" if you will. Curtiz is always impressive creating suspense and keeps the pacing of the film very tight and tense. The actors do excellent jobs playing a variety of character types with Claude Rains stealing his scenes as only he can with that deceptively mellifluous voice. Fred Clark plays a detective that somewhat acts as the film's conscience in a way. Clark gives a very subtle yet strong performance. I have always felt he had been overlooked as an actor, because he was so good with comedic roles. At any rate, The Unsuspected is a great mystery thriller with a series of murders, attempted murders, a drugging, a fake identity, and a radio broadcast all figuring into the resolution prominently.

I liked this bit of film noir. The story is a bit confusing and it lacks a solid foundation for introducing and developing characters. Unlike most films, this film might have been over edited. Another 10-15 minutes of character development might have helped.Now having said all that, what I truly liked about this film is that it is set during the golden age of radio. Its nice to have a contemporary view of this now lost and long forgotten world. We get to see a production of an "old time radio" program. We see how sound was recorded before taping became practical. Claude Rains' character is a narrator of a spooky, murder mystery radio show very much along the lines of popular radio programs such as "The Whistler" or "Suspense" or "Lights Out." Rains was perfectly cast in this role. His "radio voice" hearkens back to the day when "the Man in Black" or "the Whistler" kept millions of Americans entranced by the glowing dial in their darkened den or bedroom.