The Unseen
The Unseen
NR | 12 May 1945 (USA)
The Unseen Trailers

David Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of suspicion. Many feel that his wife's death in a car crash was no accident. Elizabeth Howard, the governess he hires to look after his children, makes it her mission to find out the truth. When other murders seem to be following David to his new town, Elizabeth investigates with the help of David's son Barnaby.

Reviews
Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie
Executscan Expected more
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
arthur_tafero 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.
JohnHowardReid Although he had been under contract for a number of years, Raymond Chandler still hadn't found his "write" niche at his home studio, Paramount. True, his assignment to "The Unseen" (1945), seemed ideal - at least on paper. Based on a book by Ethel Lina White (who wrote the original novels for both Hitchcock's Lady Vanishes and Siodmak's Spiral Staircase), the movie somehow ended up as more of a lightweight ghost story than mystery-suspense. Spooks were not Chandler's forte, but he was brought into the picture to give the supernatural proceedings a bit of rationality. Chandler did his best, but complained to all who'd listen that it was time the studio used his talents in the right direction. Finally, the contractee's voice was heard by studio management. Given the go-ahead for an original suspense thriller, Chandler set to work on "The Blue Dahlia" (1946).It's tempting to write that "The Unseen" was unseen, but that would not be true. The movie was reasonably successful. Not big money, mind you, but enough to keep the wheels turning!
mark.waltz 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.
bkoganbing 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.