THE UNSEEN (1945)

 "CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE IN A CELLAR FULL OF RATS."

Nothing like THE UNINVITED although it's often labelled as a sequel to that classic ghost movie.  It shares a director (Lewis Allen) and a star (Gail Russell) and that's about it.  No ghosts here; this is more in the spirit (no pun intended) of films like THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE -- that is, nothing supernatural is going on but a lot of spooky atmospheres and deep shadows. 

There's also a spooky, boarded up old house but sadly we never once get anywhere near it; let alone inside of it.  THE UNSEEN also has a fair amount of echoes of Henry James' TURN OF THE SCREW for me also; filmed as THE INNOCENTS which you'll probably pick up on when I semi-synopsize this.  A widowed father David Fielding (Joel McCrea) and his two children Barney (Richard Lyon) and Ellen (Nonah Griffith) are in the market for a governess and Elizabeth Howard (Gail Russell) shows up for the job.  The previous governess Maxine (Phyllis Brooks) was fired because, according to Fielding, she was a bad influence on the children.  Barney, however, is still in contact with Maxine (whom he adores) and conducts secret telephone conversations with her promising "I'll do it".  There was some speculation that David had something to do with his wife's death and that it wasn't an accident; however his good friend Dr. Charles Evans (Herbert Marshall) will have none of that.  "If you know David like I know him", Dr. Evans tells Elizabeth, "you'd know that's impossible."  A woman was murdered the night before in nearby Salem Alley . . . and then another.  A pocket watch was found by Barney that belonged to the murdered woman.  Elizabeth finds it in David's desk drawer.  She calls Dr. Evans to come quick but David appears first and discovers what she's found.  Meanwhile, Barney has been secretly letting "someone" into the house for some unknown reason and is getting paid 50p each time by an unseen, mysterious man who very probably is the murderer.  The man, apparently, lives inside the boarded up house next door and Barney leaves his Dumbo animal toy in the window to signal that the door is unlocked.

There's a lot of switching on lights in darkened rooms and characters being swallowed inside gorgeous deep, dark shadows.  The atmosphere of dread and spookiness is really well-drawn -- just as in THE UNINVITED -- but of course no hint of the supernatural is present.  Naturally, the young governess in peril in charge of two kinda strange kids of a distant father right away suggests THE TURN OF THE SCREW but here there's no question as to the reality of all this odd stuff going on.  It's definitely NOT the governess' mentally-disturbed imagination (as is suggested as a possibility in THE INNOCENTS).  While events in the film keep happening at a breakneck pace, they are a little muddled and, I'm afraid, aren't REALLY all tied up in a neat bow at the end.  I kinda understand all that's happened but I don't think it's really all that important.  The screenplay was co-written by the maestro Rayomnd Chandler (with Hagar Wilde) based on a novel by Ethel Lina White called MIDNIGHT HOUSE (U.S. title:  HER HEART IN HER THROAT).  After I finished writing this post, I watched the video essay special feature on the new Imprint box set of THE UNINVITED and THE UNSEEN and was startled yet warmed to hear that not only was the link to TURN OF THE SCREW very much there but also that Ethel Lina White also wrote a novel called "SOME MUST WATCH" which would be filmed as  . . . wait for it . . . THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE!  So full marks to my movie buff nose for sniffing all that out.  The acting, directing and atmosphere of the film are really top notch and, while there are no ghosts and ghoulies, there is enough spookiness to satisfy on a cold October night.