The Unseen (1945)

 

Directed by Lewis Allen, starring Gail Russell, Joel McCrea and Herbert Marshall with a screenplay by Hagar Wilde and the mystery writer Raymond Chandler, 1945's The Unseen tells the tale of a young governess who is hired by an aloof widower to look after his young children. However secrets from the past and the brooding presence of an old shuttered house next door loom threateningly over her appointment, particularly following a murder of a woman in a nearby shadowy alley.

Reminiscent in theme of the later more famous film The Innocents (1961. Directed by Jack Clayton) or probably more-so that film's source material the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; The Unseen does not reach the heights of either The Innocents or the earlier Lewis Allen film The Uninvited (1944; which also featured Gail Russell). It had an unfulfilled potential which is a shame as Gail Russell (who tragically died in 1961, aged only 36, from alcohol poisoning and malnutrition) carries it well and it has some scenes of beautiful Film Noir cinematography. It is though a good old black and white film to tune out to and wind down on a long dark night.