The Unfaithful (1947)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Vincent Sherman

Writers:

David Goodis (writer)
James Gunn (writer)

Release Date:

5 June 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Plot:

Chris Hunter kills an intruder and tells her husband and lawyer it was an act of self-defense. It's...

Plot Keywords:

Adultery | Orchestral Music Score | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Ann Sheridan	...	Chris Hunter
Lew Ayres	...	Larry Hannaford
Zachary Scott	...	Bob Hunter
Eve Arden	...	Paula
Jerome Cowan	...	Prosecuting Attorney
Steven Geray	...	Martin Barrow
John Hoyt	...	Det. Lt. Reynolds
Peggy Knudsen	...	Claire
Marta Mitrovich	...	Mrs. Tanner
Douglas Kennedy	...	Roger
Claire Meade	...	Martha
Frances Morris	...	Agnes
Jane Harker	...	Joan

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12249, Adult Audience)

Filming Locations:

Angel's Flight Railway, Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

An A Picture With The Look Of A B

And that is a compliment for a film noir.

This is a strange movie, both daring in its subject matter and shackled by the censors. So a sculptor did a head of Ann Sheridan while hubby Zachary Scott was away in the war. Surely this ought to have been a full nude.

Still, it captures the frustration of someone left alone for a long period (Sheridan), the anger of the person who expected her to be a dutiful Penelope, and most especially the nature of gossip when such things occur: Eve Arden is splendid as the leader of a fancy gang of cats, who regularly shuck their own husbands (courtesy of protagonist Ayres, a lawyer) and click their tongues at Sheridan.

The strange thing is that, though the sets are attractive, the crowd scenes plausible and well shot on Southern California streets, two of the stars and maybe more look worn out and bedraggled: Sheridan, though a sympathetic character, wears unflattering makeup that gives her a harsh look and Ayres looks puffy and tired.

This is a variation on the far better known "The Letter," a movie I respect for its craft but that I have never cared for. "The Unfaithful" is a more fully realized entertainment, though perhaps less elegant and stylized than its predecessor "The Letter."