Now I Understand How This Film Scared Me, As A Child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As An Adult, It Still Does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

                                                                                   

                         Two weeks ago, while David and I were watching that 1944 gem, "The Uninvited," I mentioned a film, also with Gail Russell, called "The Unseen," made the following year, 1945, by director Lewis Allen.   I told David how this film, which I had not seen in over fifty years, scared me as a child.  Svengoolie went on to mention this film, when he talked about Gail Russell, so I became curious.  No one shows this film anymore.  Nor does it turn up on revival programs.  Could it be a lost film?????

                         Far from it. I looked on YouTube, and there it was, to be watched, in its entirety, for free!  What a lucky break!  Especially after "Barbie!"

                          Gail Russell is hired by Joel McCrea, who plays David Fielding, as a governess, to care for his two children, Barney, played by Richard Lyon, and Ellen, played by Nona Grifith.  They have recently moved into their house, after the wife/mother died abroad in a car accident.  Or was it an accident?  Next door is a boarded-up house, where the murder of an old man took place, twelve years before.  Occasionally, lights are seen from a window where no one should be living.

                            Added to this are a series of murders taking place in the neighborhood.  The victims are all female, and domestic workers--housekeepers and such.  Gail, as Elizabeth Howard, begins to feel she is being stalked.

                             Part of the film's creepiness, even today, is the excellent, darkly Gothic, cinematography by John F. Seitz.  For a Paramount film, this had quite a pedigree; not only the cast, but John Houseman (!!!!) served as producer, and Raymond Chandler was one of the screenwriters.

                               Oh, yes.  The little boy, Barney, knows who the killer is, but on pain of death, cannot tell.  And the little girl knows things, and she is hiding them too.  A little bit of "The Turn Of The Screw" here.

                                 Except this is not supernatural, but what, in its day, would have been called a "psychological drama."  Whatever name given, it holds up beautifully, and I urge all on here to watch it.

                                   If the scene where the children and governess walk down a side street, a shadow appears, and the boy screams, "He's after us!" does not scare you, then you are fearless, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  "The Unseen" is the title.  But it deserves to BE seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!