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Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Most mysteries in the 2000s lack either atmosphere or good writing. This film lacked only good writing. Hard to believe Raymond Chandler could write a turkey, and even more unbelievable that John Houseman, a true giant in film, could have been the producer. Joel McCrea never made a bad movie as far as I know; but this one is certainly near the bottom of his accomplishments,One of the problems of the films is its pacing; the movie moves at a snail's pace for an hour or so, and then does the hundred yard dash to tie up all the loose ends in the last ten minutes. I will not mention the ending, but it was rather unsatisfying. Interesting to see McCrea and Herbert Marshall (one of Bette Davis's favorite leading men in a film together. A watchable film, but killed by the annoying children, and having a haunted house next to a mansion. Please.

Starting off on all the right notes, this mediocre reunion of director Lewis Allen and leading lady Gail Russell from "The Uninvited" is a frustrating misfire. Russell is hired by brooding widower Joel McCrea to look after his two rather bizarre children. There's a boarded up house next door where a nasty old man lived years before, leading to a bunch of strange goings on and ending up in murder. The film just gets odder as it goes on, bringing in a whole bunch of seemingly suspicious characters, causing nothing but more confusion. This is the type of script that seems pike a bunch of words on paper and no cohesive plot to tie everything together. Some of the characters have no real reason for being there in the first place, wasting such talented character players as Herbert Marshall, Elisabeth Risdon and Isobel Elsom, who should have been more involved in the structure of the plot, being the widow of the man who owned the abandoned house next door. What becomes clear right off is that the only thing that is unseen is a plot line, making this one of the true misfires of Hollywood in the 1940's, and perhaps the worst film of 1945.

Although The Unseen received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound it is a major disappointment as it was sold by Paramount as a followup to their hit from the year before, The Uninvited. Even the presence of Gail Russell who got her breakthrough role in the previous film, in The Unseen that guaranteed nothing.I also have to say that my copy of this film in fact had bad sound in it and I attribute that to the manufacturer of this bootleg. It was shocking to read here that The Unseen got an Oscar nomination in of all categories, sound.Joel McCrea has moved back to the family estate with his two children, both of whom have some issues. Especially son Richard Lyon who seems to have a lot more money than his allowance would warrant. The house next door is boarded up since a murder took place a decade earlier. Gail is hired by a strangely brooding McCrea who is going into territory inhabited by Orson Welles as Mr. Rochester or Laurence Olivier as Maxim DeWinter. It's unlike anything McCrea ever did before or since. Gail is to be governess to the kids. But she's drawn into all the mystery, especially after a couple of other murders occur in and around that boarded up house.Such players as Herbert Marshall, Tom Tully, Isobel Elsom, and Elizabeth Risdon add to the creepiness of the film.But I can't speak for all who will see it, but I was terribly let down in the ending. No other worldly beings doing deviltry to humans, just some very ordinary humans for very ordinary human motives are responsible for all the dirty work.Joel McCrea decided to concentrate on westerns after this and he did the rest of his career with one exception. It probably was a wise decision.

Very interesting mystery with Joel Mcrea as a man you just can't understand.Gail Russell gives a great performance as the governess of Mcrea's children and Herbert Marshall is the "friendly" doctor you would never suspect.