The Unfaithful (1947) User Reviews

A pleasant surprise

[samhill5215 · 7/10 · 19 October 2007]

I began watching this film out of curiosity. Having seen "The Letter" I just wanted to see how this one stacked up. But other than in general terms there is little else to compare them. Frankly the first half was somewhat predictable, a soap opera that telegraphed the outcome. But when it hit its stride, boy what a surprise! Without giving away any details this film is worth watching simply for the honest and straightforward way it deals with the complications of married life, especially when a couple is separated over a long period. There is plenty of good advice here especially considering the times we live in, what with all the servicemen returning home to find that their wives and sweethearts were real people with real problems.

But there was more to it that just that. Perhaps a lawyer might object, but to me even the brief courtroom scene was believable. And the issues were very real. The film did not take the easy way out and reduce itself to an indictment of infidelity. Instead it examined and revealed the motives of the principal characters and none of them came out all good or all evil but a mixture, hence human.

If one subscribes to the belief that cinema reflects life then this film is an important revelation of post WWII society and the surprise is that it wasn't all that different from today.

Ann Sheridan is excellent in this fine reworking of the classic "The Letter"

[Emaisie39 · 8/10 · 21 October 2007]

I just saw this on TCM and was so surprised at how gripping it was. Loosely based on Somerset Maugham's "The Letter" that was a major early talkie hit for Jeanne Eagels at Paramount and then remade into a the William Wyler-Bette Davis-Warner Brothers classic of 1940, this version pulls you in and gives Ann Sheridan one of her finest roles. Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden and Marta Miltrovich are all outstanding as well. Top notch Jerry Wald production includes excellent Max Steiner score, superb Ernest Haller cinematography, and a very good script. Outstanding direction by Vincent Sherman allows Sheridan to shine in her central role as a woman who kills a supposed stranger in self-defense and then watches her life implode around her. The ending is the only letdown. Definitely a must for fans of the "Oomph Girl" at her Warner Brothers peak.

Fine remake of William Wyler's 'The Letter.'

[haroldg-2 · 6/10 · 13 July 2001]

THE UNFAITHFUL (1947), is director Vincent Sherman's 1947 loose remake of the 1940 William Wyler/Bette Davis classic, THE LETTER.

Glamorous Ann Sheridan stars as a woman who kills an intruder in her home, and then tries to hide the fact that the man had once been her lover from her husband and the police. There's one problem; the dead man had been a sculptor, and his widow has possession of a bust he had sculpted which Sheridan had obviously modeled for.

Sheridan is excellent as the loving wife who, out of loneliness during her husbands tour of duty in WWII, gave into temptation and an adulterous affair, then with her attorney (Lew Ayers) makes a desperate effort to retrieve the incriminating object before her husband (Zachary Scott) finds out the truth.

Neither Ayers or Scott have ever set the screen on fire for me, and that holds true here as well. But they're both always competent actors, and they give fine support to Miss Sheridan's gutsy performance in one of her better Warner Brothers star vehicles.

Eve Arden also has several memorable scenes as a gossiping relative.

It's not the classic film that THE LETTER is, but still a well made and highly entertaining Hollywood drama worth seeing.

Good melodramatic recap of THE LETTER with Ann Sheridan at her best...

[Doylenf · 15 January 2003]

Strange that the credits make no mention of the fact that this Warner Bros. melodrama is based on "The Letter"--instead proclaiming to be an original screenplay. The smart performances of Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres and Zachary Scott make this a fashionable enough, updated remark with Sheridan's unfaithfulness being blamed on her loneliness during World War II.

Her character is much softer and less intense than the one Davis played and she is not quite as impressive despite Vincent Sherman's firm hand on the direction. Lew Ayres as a lawyer friend and Zachary Scott as her husband are quite effective. Marta Mitrovich is good as the wronged wife of the man Sheridan kills, but not nearly as compelling or strong in her portrayal as Gale Sondergaard was in the original film.

Steven Geray is excellent as an art dealer who owns a piece of sculpture he knows the police might be interested in. Eva Arden delivers her tart dialogue with her usual skill as a gossipy friend, very good in her final scene with Scott where she gets serious and tries to steer him into making the right decision.

A very watchable melodrama--just don't expect another triumph like "The Letter".

Piercing the Pre-War Paradigm

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 13 March 2013]

This combination of a murder mystery and post-war reclamation of Family life is Film-Noir at its definition but not in its execution. It is handled quite regularly and straightforward, aside from some very effective L.A. street scenes that evoke Noir overtones.

It's most effective in its "new" Hollywood discovering of extramarital affairs brought on by quick vows and hasty deployment by our Military. Predictably some of these quick, for convenience Marriages could not hold true, especially for the left alone "War Widows" who had little time to fall deeply in love with their Husbands.

The mystery and courtroom part pales in comparison to the social drama and infidelity conundrums, and it is the deconstructing psychology of this unfortunate situation that compels this to above average Cinema. Eve Arden's accurate understanding insight and delineation speech is quite a mid 1940's welcome revelation to Movie audiences. It was this very seldom open discussion about private affairs that elevates this one and moves it to the periphery of Film-Noir.

What happened to Roger?

[krorie · 7/10 · 19 March 2006]

This is not a remake of "The Letter," rather this film and "The Letter" are based on the same source, a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Strangely, Maugham is not given credit. Since he was still alive at the time, one wonders why he didn't object. Since "The Letter," there have been other films using the same theme but not quite as obviously as "The Unfaithful," though the setting and other parts have been changed to update the story.

The delightful Ann Sheridan, who never received her due recognition as an actress, plays the bored housewife who has a fling while her new husband is away at war. Like so many other beauties, Marilyn Monroe comes to mind, Sheridan was promoted as a sex kitten, The "Oomph" Girl, and her true talents were never appreciated by the Hollywood establishment.

Though Sheridan is fine, three supporting players steal the show. The magnificent Lew Ayres shines as the attorney friend who tries to put the pieces together hoping to exonerate Chris Hunter (Sheridan) from suspected murder. The more he searches the less the puzzle pieces fit. Ayres received a bum rap by Hollywood big wigs when he exercised his First Amendment rights during World War II to express his pacifist views. This movie represents his efforts to be re-accepted.

Zachary Scott plays against type as the husband who is caught in a murder investigation he doesn't understand. As the story unwinds, he learns more about his wife than he wants to know or to accept. When Bob Hunter (Scott) appears on the scene having been away on business, the viewer automatically thinks he is in someway involved in the killing since Scott usually played the bad guy. This film shows that Scott was a more versatile actor when given an opportunity.

Then there's the elegant Eve Arden as family friend and relative, Paula. Arden has some of the best lines in the movie and does she know how to deliver them! She is catty, coy, and funny when delivering just one well-written line of dialog. When her role turns more serious toward the end of the flick, she knows how to handle that too with élan.

The film is worthwhile but there are a few weaknesses. One is the introduction of characters that just wander in and then disappear without rhyme or reason. For example, at a drunken party, Paula's ex, Roger, played by Douglas Kennedy, disrupts the proceedings and has to be led away by Chris and Larry Hannaford (Lew Ayres). After such a grand spectacle, Roger is never seen or mentioned again in the movie. The viewer keeps waiting for his return thinking that just maybe he had something to do with the murder.

Another weakness is running time. This film is way too long. It would have played much better in a 60+ time slot. As is, there is too much dialog. So there are long boring talky parts included to stretch the film to an almost two hour format. "The Unfaithful" is more of an effective programmer than the flashy main feature it tries to be.

Loose remake of "The Letter" loses something in update

[bmacv · 6/10 · 4 December 2000]

The 1940 William Wyler/Bette Davis, based on a Somerset Maugham story, is a top-notch romantic thriller (a 1929 version starring legendary Jeanne Eagles is apparently even more sizzling). So a 1947 remake set not in the rain-forest plantations of the British Empire East of Suez but in postwar Los Angeles - building boom and all -- seems a stretch. It is, but it's not a bad movie, once you accept wholesome and throaty Ann Sheridan as the fallen woman (in this version she's not quite the cold-blooded killer of the earlier versions). Instead of a letter, we have a bust of Sheridan sculpted by the dead artist who became her R&R while hubby Zachary Scott was overseas fighting the good fight. The story is well-told and helds interest most of the way through, until it melts down into a routine marital crisis (quite a world apart from the vengeance by an Asiatic Gale Sondergaard in the 1940 telling). The most memorable performance here comes from Eve Arden, as the tart-tongued in-law Paula.

Loneliness and Indiscretion

[romanorum1 · 7/10 · 28 May 2014]

The opening narrative tells us that our story occurs in southern California, but that it may happen anywhere. From a street generously lined with palm trees, a late model auto pulls into the driveway of an attractive house in an upper middle class neighborhood. Thus begins the tale. Chris Hunter (Ann Sheridan) is excited because her husband Bob (Zachary Scott) is returning home from his latest business trip (of ten days). As it will come to pass, Bob and Chris have not been together much. They married only after knowing each other for a short time. Just two weeks later, he was shipped away to the Pacific for two years to fight the Japanese in World War II, not returning home until after the war (1945). So there is a hidden message here: loneliness.

The night before Bob's arrival Chris is attacked by a man whom we do not see as she enters her house. After a difficult struggle she is able to reach for a knife and kill her assailant in obvious self-defense. The police are shortly on the scene of the crime. While the account appears to be one of an assault and self-defense issue, it is much more. The fact of the matter is that while Bob was away, the dutiful Chris succumbed to temptation: another man's advances. She tries to hide her adultery. The problem is that the man whom she killed (Mike Tanner) was the one with whom she had the affair. No one would be the wiser except that a sleazy second-hand art dealer, Martin Barrow (Steven Geray) – he of the strange accent for a guy named Barrow – happens to own a bust, a sculptured head. Not only is it a likeness of Chris Hunter, but it has been "signed" by M. Tanner, the name of the dead man! Over time, Chris' lies will get her into trouble with both the law and her husband. Her life will implode.

Defending Chris is adviser-lawyer and family friend Larry Hannaford (Lew Ayres), steadfast to the end. But when everything comes out into the open, there will be a sensational shattering public trial. Lew Ayres is more than adequate in court, and he later has the soothing words for Bob and Chris when they need them. So does gossipy Paula (Eve Arden), who turns decent at the end. Jerome Conway is the prosecuting attorney, a pit bull, in court. By the way, if he looks familiar as a court lawyer, he had the same role (district attorney) during the same year (1947) in "Miracle on 34th Street." Los Angeles locales are used to good advantage. But although the leads (Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott) are fine, there are two weaknesses: Roger (Douglas Kennedy), a bit of a heavy, wanders in and out very early on, and we never see him again. Also the movie length is at ten or fifteen minutes too long. Nevertheless it is entertaining, satisfying, and recommended.

Realistic Look at Post-War Domesticity.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 21 July 2010]

It's 1947. Zachary Scott has been fighting the war in the Pacific. The conflict having ended, he returns home to his loving wife, Ann Sheridan. For the most part, Sheridan has spent the war years as a volunteer at the USO and in other noble pursuits. However, she has had an affair with a sculptor. She tries to avoid the artist but he stalks her, attacks her, and is killed by Sheridan in self defense. Sheridan then does every possible stupid thing to bring about an accusation of murder. There's an unusually subtle attempt at blackmail. Scenes in a courtroom follow.

So far, a little dull -- and it IS talky. But it's also an interesting examination of the stresses place on an ordinary marriage during periods of separation such as wartime imposes.

Scott understandably has been wrapped up in his own problems overseas and doesn't write as many letters as he might. Meanwhile, Sheridan has had only a week or two with Scott before he shipped out, and now she's lonely and horny. This is not one of those war-time fairy tales in which the delicious wife back home sticks to her main job -- being resigned but cheerfully faithful throughout.

Scott is a generous and forgiving man. No shadow is cast on his character. But he can't stand the idea of his wife, whom he still loves, having been with another man. The jury acquits her, but Scott is distraught. Both he and Sheridan agree that a divorce is in order. He visits a mutual friend, Eve Arden, who gives him a straight-from-the-shoulder analysis of a woman's difficulties at home while her man in uniform is overseas being lauded by the public. Arden tells Scott that he had a two-week fling with her, not a marriage. He "took out an option on her." And he carried with him the fantasy of spousal purity at home. It's a thoroughgoing feminist tract before the formula became formulaic, and it's all the more effective because Scott isn't a bad guy. If he were a brute male, the scene would simply show us his being taken down a proper notch and something of value would have been lost because Scott would have been all bad, while Eve Arden would have been all good. As it stands, it's more sophisticated than that.

The last speech is delivered to the couple by Lew Ayres, their lawyer, who dissuades them from divorcing. I don't know the stats but I would guess that the divorce rate rose dramatically after the men returned. Not just because of unfaithful wives, of course, but because of the disruptive influence of PTSD and the fact that homebound wives found new outlets for their energy in wage work outside the kitchen.

The film doesn't have the reach of a polished Hollywood product like "The Best Years of Our Lives," yet I suppose it found a ready audience while addressing this rather complicated social problem, one which partly emasculated the male and turned the structure of the household, and of society, temporarily upside down. Temporarily, that is, until about 1975 when the whole thing appeared to collapse.

The movie really has a good, clinical dose of ambition and relevance under that cloak of a murder thriller.

Another Fine Performance By Ann Sheridan

[Randy_D · 10/10 · 7 December 2000]

Ann Sheridan is in fine form here as a woman whose past not only catches up with her, it threatens to ruin her life.

Sheridan portrays Chris Hunter, a woman who, while her husband was serving in World War II, gives in to her loneliness with a meaningless one night stand, hence the title of the film. While she tries desperately to keep this from her husband you get the sense that she knows it is only a matter of time before he finds out.

Ann Sheridan manages to evoke sympathy even though her character she did something that even she admits is unforgivable. You can't condone what she did but at least you can understand why she did it.

Lew Ayres and Zachary Scott turn in solid supporting roles in a film worth catching.

Not exactly a remake of a classic film...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 29 April 2011]

but close enough that within 20 minutes or so you'll recognize the basic outline of "The Letter". 1940's version was a production code version of the story that was as close to the original story as the censors would allow. To see what they wouldn't allow watch the 1929 version.

This version is different enough that you'll not be sure how it ends even if you've already seen "The Letter". The main change - the topical subject in 1947 of people who met and married in haste during WWII before the man shipped out with the armed forces and how difficult it was for the women to cope with the loneliness. Zachary Scott plays a good if self-righteous guy (Bob Hunter) for a change and plays it convincingly and Anne Sheridan plays his adoring wife, Chris. They were such a couple who over a three week period during WW2 met, courted, and married before Bob had to ship out. Chris was more fortunate than many army wives - Bob's family has money so all she has to do is wait. This spare time turns out to be a curse as well as a blessing though. The two seem to have the ideal marriage though post-war until one night when Bob is away from home Chris is attacked by a man and kills him in self defense. We never see the man and the attack is shown only in silhouette. Chris claims to have never seen the man before, but soon her story is falling apart.

Eve Arden is in top form here as a recent rather catty divorcée who, in a scene that could have gone one of several ways when a depressed Zachary Scott shows up at her bachelorette apartment alone and seeking comfort, turns out to be a gal with heart after all and more so, wisdom.

Definitely worth your time even if you've seen either or both of the other previous filmed versions of the same basic story.

strong, well-acted drama

[hildacrane · 10/10 · 21 October 2005]

From the opening credits, underscored by Max Steiner's propulsive, unrelenting theme, this is a powerful film. Although loosely based on "The Letter," it is really not about sexual hypocrisy, but rather deals with the price of loneliness that World War II exacted on women at the home front. That price would of course also affect the returning soldiers, spouses of those women. At one point a character refers to the adulterous wife's "debt to society"--certainly not the sort of comment that would be likely to turn up in a film today--but the movie also takes pains to present the wife as a basically decent and honest person.Other films of the time that dealt with variations on that theme are "Till the End of Time" and "The Best Years of Our Lives." The discontents of the returning soldier have been depicted for millennia, as attested by the "welcome" that Agamemnon receives on returning home from the Trojan War.

While the narrator at the movie's start accurately says that the story could take place anywhere, post-war Los Angeles is very nicely evoked, with quite a bit of location shooting. Among them: the atrium office building also featured in "DOA"; a hillside cable car, and a seedy hotel located opposite a high, menacing traffic embankment. There is also some nice blocking of the action in the suburban house, the emblem of the American Dream gone awry. (That Zachary Scott's character is a housing developer, when his own household is in disarray, has a paradoxical aspect.)

Fine performances from all the principals, especially Ann Sheridan, who really shines. Eve Arden is also fine as an unexpected ally and, in contrast to her usual comic roles, has some strong dramatic moments.

Excellent "B" picture

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 16 May 2014]

Some say this is an update to Bette Davis' film "The Letter". There are similarities, but I think saying that it is a remake is an exaggeration. The ending, in particular, is completely different. Reformulation or not, this is still a darned good film noir.

This is only a "B" picture, but an unusually strong one. And the main reason for that strength is the good cast. Ann Sheridan was in her decline by this time, but I have always felt she was a strong actress who could excel in comedy or drama. She does very nicely here. Lew Ayres also does well as the lawyer that defends Sheridan. Zachary Scott, who often plays the heavy, plays the good husband here, and does so quite nicely. Eve Arden is along as a friend, but her big scene -- other than her typical sardonic humor -- doesn't come until her rather long confrontation with Zachary Scott. John Hoyt does nicely as the investigating detective, and Jerome Cowan plays the prosecuting attorney.

The legal aspects covered in this film are done quite well. Ayes, in particular, seems to have a role that is realistic as a defense attorney. Overall it's a fairly gritty picture, but not overdone.

One of the things I liked about this film is that rather than have the film take place in some "other" city, it takes place in Los Angeles, which provides an inexpensive way to have some nice location shots.

the unfaithful

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 13 September 2021]

The rather plodding pace of this chick flic melodrama masquerading as a noir (under the guise that anything with Zack Scott, set in LA, is of that genre) gives the viewer plenty of time to sniff out the rank odor of misogyny that permeates it as every female character is either a liar, a b---, or vengeful, and clearly the title refers exclusively to the distaff side of humanity. I might also add that two of the three leads are miscast, Scott never being convincing as a conventional good guy, and Ann Sheridan, who specialized in wisecracking waitresses, totally boring as a society wife. Not miscast, however, and providing the only interest in this rather tired production is Lew Ayres playing a fussy, woman hating, divorce attorney, a typically fine, nuanced study from this most sensitive of American actors. Give it a C. PS...Also partially redeeming this thing are great shots of 1947 LA, from Angels Flight to the red cars on Santa Monica Blvd (which I noticed was already afflicted with the smog that came to be associated with my home town from the 50s to the turn of the century.)

Well made production from Warner Brothers.

[youroldpaljim · 22 January 2002]

While her husband is away, Chris Hunter returns home to be accosted by an intruder whom she kills in self defence. However, she can not tell the police the whole story because the intruder was a married man whom she once had an affair with. Fearing what her husband might do if he discovers she had an affair, she tells police that the man was a total stranger and that he demanded her jewelry. A suspicious policeman suspects she is not telling the truth, and the dead mans widow and a crooked art dealer try to blackmail her. When police discover she had not told them the truth, she is brought to trial for murder.

THE UNFAITHFUL is a decent, first class production from Warner Brothers, with top notch performances from leads Sheridan, Scott, and Ayers. Eve Arden gives a memorable performance as Sheridan's gossipy cousin inlaw. Direction by Vincent Sherman is done with his usual skill and flair. The film runs at 119 mins, but it held my interest through out.

Murder in '40s Los Angeles

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 1 August 2010]

Ann Sheridan and Zachary Scott star in "The Unfaithful" in this 1947 Warner Brothers film directed by Vincent Sherman. The likable Sheridan plays Chris Hunter, a woman whose husband (Zachary Scott) has been away on a business trip. She's excited about his return the next morning; after a party held by her husband's cousin Paula (Eve Arden), we see her being attacked. The attacker gets into her home, and the assault continues there.

The next day, we find out there's been a murder, and Chris tells the police and her husband that a man tried to rob her of her jewelry and she killed him defending herself. Right away you know her story is no good.

This is a fairly interesting update of "The Letter" with some modern marital problems coming into the mix - a hasty marriage followed by a long wartime separation and the resulting loneliness. It doesn't have the bite of the Somerset Maugham story, but it's pretty good.

Zachary Scott for once plays a nice guy, and Ann Sheridan gives a good performance as his wife. Eve Arden has the best role as the gossipy cousin who is more sympathetic to Chris than she immediately lets on.

Good Warners film, good Warners cast.

Crying shame

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 11 May 2019]

'The Unfaithful' is a loose version of the classic 'The Letter', the story of that film re-arranged yet the basics are still intact. It is not near as good as that film, but it is hard to be as good or equal to it because 'The Letter' is so brilliant and a high point for both direction William Wyler (one of the greats when it came to directors) and star Bette Davis at her most chilling.

Anyway though, anything that has reliable director Vincent Sherman and has talent like Ann Sheridan, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden and Lew Ayres in the cast together in the same film (when all have given fine performances in other films individually elsewhere) has to be well worth the effort. The same goes with having Max Steiner, with a compositional style that in my mind one recognises from anywhere and a major founder of film music, as composer. Have always loved a lot of his work, with the main theme of his score for 'Gone With the Wind' being one of the most timeless ones in cinema. 'The Unfaithful' may not be in the same leage as 'The Letter', but it is nonetheless highly respectable, is a good film on its own and is far from a disgrace.

Will start with what doesn't quite work. Do agree with those that say that 'The Unfaithful' is too long, would have trimmed about 10-15 minutes myself, a prime example being the epilogue/ending, which already like one scene too far when the previous scene would have been an ideal place to stop.

It is a little too heavy on the talk which at times does bog the pace down, the script for 'The Letter' is much tighter. Though the actual dialogue itself really provokes thought. Am also another person that found the unexplained coming and going of some characters a distraction.

However, 'The Unfaithful' does look good. Especially the moody photography. Max Steiner's score stirs, swells, soars and haunts in all the right places and is superbly orchestrated too without being overwrought or intrusive. Sherman directs more than reliably and at a controlled pace that suits the material dead-on. The script is thought-provoking, the tension and emotion factors are high, the story absorbs and true in spirit on the whole to 'The Letter' and the lead character of Chris is remarkably nuanced.

Ann Sheridan is excellent as Chris, the intensity and poignancy of her performance really grips and she brings nuances to a character that many would find hard to do. Zachary Scott, as has been noted, is in an atypical role in that it is a more sympathetic one rather than his usual formidable villains, but he shows no signs of being out of his depth at all, the role suits him actually. A waspish Eve Arden is on sparkling form, she is always a pleasure to watch and was always a bright spot in lesser films and she steals every scene she's in. Lew Ayres does a good job too, if not as interesting though that is down to that the other three have more interesting and more demanding characters to play.

Concluding, good film with many fine elements. With a little trimming and a little tightening it would have been even better. 7/10

The Letter Is a Bust for Ann Sheridan

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 22 July 2010]

Coming home from a late-night party, Southern California socialite Ann Sheridan (as Christine "Chris" Hunter) is attacked by a man outside the doorway to her home. The shadowy man shoves Ms. Sheridan inside the house, and an off-screen struggle ensues. We are permitted inside, with investigators, to discover Sheridan has stabbed her attacker to death. Soon, understanding lawyer Lew Ayres (as Lawrence "Larry Hannaford) and husband Zachary Scott (as Robert "Bob" Hunter) are there to comfort Sheridan. It seems like an easy self-defense case, but Sheridan may learn that, sometimes, dead men do tell tales…

"The Unfaithful" is a familiar story, probably most recognizable in film as W. Somerset Maugham's "The Letter" (1940).

There isn't much admirable done with the story. Here, Sheridan's character is portrayed as a woman who "can only stand so much." Where Bette Davis (in 1940) seemed strong, Sheridan seems weak. And, her weakness is applied to women as a group. Note how Ayers' lawyer universally blames females for divorce. And, of course, nobody would question an overseas soldier's fidelity. Still, this version features great locations, and is beautifully photographed and directed by Ernest Haller and Vincent Sherman. Sheridan and the cast perform it well, and gossipy divorcée Eve Arden (as Paula) comes on strong near the end.

****** The Unfaithful (6/5/47) Vincent Sherman ~ Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden

WHEN THERE'S TROUBLE IN A MARRIAGE...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 21 November 2020]

A film noir (I've read a remake of The Letter) from 1947 starring Ann Sheridan, Zachary Scott & Lew Ayres about a tryst that threatens to destroy a marriage. Sheridan & Scott are a happily married couple (at least on the surface) w/Scott away for most of the time (he's a successful builder). One night when Sheridan is returning home from a party she's accosted by a man in her home & winds up killing him in self defense. That the man is the same fellow she had shacked up with sends the town & specifically her small circle of friends, led by the acid tongued Eve Arden, into a tizzy. During the police investigation, Ayres, a divorce attorney & close friend of the married couple, represents Sheridan but when the facts don't quite match up & Sheridan isn't entirely forthcoming, Ayres pushes until it hurts (especially when the dead man's widow & an opportunistic blackmailer enter the picture to put the screws to all involved). Great overheated melodrama to be sure w/all the actors, especially Ayres & Arden, stealing any scenes they happen to be in w/a pervading sense of dread running through the piece until the very end. Also starring John Hoyt as the detective in charge of the investigation.

Pretty good but slightly muddled

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 October 2007]

The film begins with Ann Sheridan coming home from a party and being attacked by an unknown person. The next morning, her husband (Zachary Scott) returns home from a business trip to find the police at his home. It seems that Ann killed the attacker and the story seems pretty open and shut--some guy broke into her home and she justifiably killed him.

However, just a bit later, you find that there's a lot more to the story. Ann actually lied and what exactly is the truth is something you are never certain of--even by the end of the film. What Zachary Scott and the police do know, though, is that at one point Ann and her attacker had actually been lovers! Now so far, I liked the film and its twists and turns--especially when you find out Sheridan isn't so sweet after all. However, what bothered me and made this film less interesting is that despite her being a liar (and possibly a cold-blooded murderess), other story elements are thrown in which muddle the whole thing. They actually tried to make the viewer feel sorry for her and understand why she might have been justified in lying--and this lost me. I would have MUCH preferred the story not taking this detour and being much more a story about an evil and conniving woman (such as Bette Davis'character in THE LETTER). The sympathy angle weakened the narrative--making this movie more of an interesting time-pass than anything else.

unfaithfulness uncovered

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 4 August 2011]

The unfaithfulness referred to in the title reveals itself with a fair amount of intrigue as the film rolls on. However, by the end it has been sanitized to fit into the supposed audience expectations of the day. The story moves along fairly well with the details coming out after wife Ann Sheridan kills an intruder who had forced his way into her upper middle class home she shares with real estate developer and WW2 vet husband played by Zachary Scott. Who the intruder actually was and other aspects get doled out leading to a trial with aggressive DA played by over the top but interesting Jerome Cowan facing off against family friend and high class divorce lawyer Lew Ayres. Ayres has significant screen time and makes for an interesting 1940's LA divorce lawyer. The best scene goes out of the studio and on location in LA as the intruder's wife reads about her husband's death in the paper while she's taking a trolly down a steep street somewhere in 1940's LA. The intruder turns out to have been an interesting guy and it's good that the film can weave his story into the plot so well.

Disappointing

[richard-1787 · 6/10 · 10 November 2020]

I watched this movie because I like Ann Sheridan in a good movie (she made some good ones, but also too many dull ones). This turned out to be a disappointment.

I can imagine that the issue of wives/girlfriends who cheated on their husbands/boyfriends while the latter were away at war was a major issue in the years immediately following World War II. But this movie doesn't do it justice.

First, the Hunters were only married a week or so, and had only known each other a few weeks, when the husband went off to war. That's not really much grounds for a real relationship - as their friend the lawyer points out to them. So it's hard to see Chris's infidelity as a real betrayal.

But why, then, in the friend's last speech, which brings the couple back together again - and is very reminiscent of the mother's speech (Lucille Watson) in *The Women* to her daughter (Norma Shearer) - does he justify saving the marriage by talking about all the wonderful things the couple had in common? If those are all things they have done together since the husband returned from war, the movie could have made a much better case for winning the audience's sympathies if it had used flashbacks to show us what a wonderful life together they had built. We see nothing of their former life at all.

Second, we never really see why the wife (Sheridan) allowed herself to become involved with another man during her husband's absence. We never have any sense that she struggled to resist at first. Her lines about being lonely at night sound very empty, when we see that she had friends and learn that she was involved in social activities. I can't imagine that women who did remain faithful to their men during the war had any sympathy for Sheridan's character at all.

Other characters turn out to be equally unsympathetic, such as the sculptor's wife, the woman whose husband cheated on her with Mrs. Hunter. In the same respect, the husband, Mr. Hunter, never earns our sympathies. We really have no emotional point of attachment.

Others have found things to like in this movie, but I found it difficult to stick with it, and never became involved in it.

"I want to see her suffer the way I suffered".

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 22 September 2016]

Ann Sheridan became my favorite classic film actress on the strength of feisty performances in films like 1938's "Angels With Dirty Faces" and 1940's "City For Conquest". Here she portrays a conflicted character who's had an affair and killed her former lover when he refuses to concede that the romance is over. Because the viewer doesn't know this when the story begins, it appears to be an open and shut case once she's arrested for murder. The intriguing story that follows contains several twists and turns that makes this a thinking person's movie, one that challenges a typical reaction that a divorce between the aggrieved parties is a foregone conclusion.

The player who really makes one sit up and take notice however is Lew Ayres as attorney Larry Hannaford, lawyer and personal friend of Chris Hunter (Sheridan) and her husband Bob (Zachary Scott). Initially sympathetic to Chris's plight, he really lets her have it when he uncovers the truth of her affair, comparing her to any number of 'cheating, conniving women who parade through my office'. He eventually tempers his disdain over the situation by realizing that Chris didn't have it in her to murder a man wantonly, and so takes up her murder trial defense.

Now this art shop guy Barrow (Steven Geray) was a real low down creep, wasn't he? Seeing dollar signs in it for himself when he connects the dots on newspaper headlines about the Tanner killing, he holds out for a ten thousand dollar payday by bringing in the widow Tanner (Marta Mitrovich) on his scheme. To get a good idea of Ann Sheridan's range as an actress, just catch her reaction when Barrow tells her Mrs. Tanner has the bust that Michael Tanner sculpted using her as a model. It was a foreboding look that held the threat of everything in her life about to fall apart.

Actress Eve Arden also displays a side to her acting ability I haven't seen before as well. Watching her as 'Our Miss Brooks' in TV reruns back in the Fifties, I'm more familiar with her comedic side, but she proved she was capable of inserting a capital 'B' into a colorful description of her character Paula. In case you're wondering, the word rhymes with 'witch'.

Ultimately this becomes a bittersweet story once Mrs. Hunter survives her murder trial and is acquitted. Then it becomes attorney Hannaford's job to try and patch up the canyon wide differences between the Hunters. The dialog that sets up what might be a successful reconciliation is the kind of writing one generally doesn't come across in pictures of the era, and works to significantly elevate the quality of the picture.

this is Mrs. Tanner. Mrs Michael Tanner. The wife of the dead man.

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 27 December 2009]

***SPOILERS*** Loosely based on the 1940 Bette Davis smash hit "The Letter" by W. Somerset Maugham. The film "the Unfaithful" has successful home builder and decorated combat veteran Bob Hunter, Zachary Scott,finding out to his everlasting shock and humiliation that his wife was cheating on him behind his back when he was with the US Marines in the South Pacific dodging Jap bullets and mortar shells.

This all come out when Bob's cheating wife Chris,Ann Sheridan, stabbed to death her ex-lover Michael Tanner, Paul Bradley, when he tried to restart his illicit affair with her one dark evening by breaking into her and Bob's suburban L.A home. Making it look like self-defense it later comes out that Chris had her portrait sculptured by Tanner during the time hubby Bob was risking his life fighting the Japs in Pacific island hellholes like Guadalcanal and Tarawa. It's Bob & Chris'good friend and divorce lawyer Larry Hannaford, Lew Ayres, who discovered this shocking fact when he was contacted by antique dealer Martin Barrow, Steven Geray, whom the late Michael Tanner sold Chris' sculpture to.

Trying to keep her relationship with Tanner from her husband Bob Chris ends up making things a lot worse then they already were. It proved that Chris had a good reason in killing Tanner in keeping him from blackmailing her. Barrow who was only interested in collecting the blackmail money, a cool $10,000.00, was overruled by Tanner's grieving wife, Marta Mitrovich, who only wanted revenge by having the already emotionally destroyed Chris sent to the San Quentin gas chamber for her husbands cold-blooded murder. This despite the fact that her two-timing husband Michael was having an affair with Chris while she was home slaving over the stove cooking his supper which, by fooling around with Chris, he rarely ate!

***SPOILER ALERT*** It was the wise and experienced, in family matters, Larry Hannaford-Esquire-who set things straight for both Bob & Chris in getting them to put aside their differences and kiss and make up. Larry who deals with situations like husbands and wives who are on the outs saw in both Bob and Chris hope in that they got caught up in things beyond their control: WWII and the difficulties it brought to newlywed couples like themselves. In being separated from Bob for years at a time Chris never really knew if he'll ever come back to her or end up getting himself killed on a Jap controlled Pacicfic island or, while in transit, in a kamikaze suicide attack on his US Navy troopship. ***MAJOR SPOILER*** With Larry's skillful defense of Chris on her first degree murder trial he convinced the jury that it was Michael not Chris who was the person most responsible for his untimely death by not letting go of his obsession for Chris. This lead to a kill or be killed situation with Chris in fighting for her life ending up as the soul survivor. As for the hurt and feeling down in the dumps Bob in Chris dropping him, a decorated combat veteran, for a cowardly 4F draft dodger he, with Larry's help, learned to live with it and take a grateful Chris back thus putting his, and Chris, shattered life back together again.

It's a 'bust' for Ann Sheridan's marriage!

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 30 July 2011]

The well-heeled wife of an architect kills a burglar in her home and declares it self-defense...however, there's more to her story than she's letting on. Tatty, uncredited updating of the W. Somerset Maugham/Bette Davis chestnut "The Letter" foolishly replaces the infamous smoking gun with a knife--which lessens the dramatic impact of the crime right there! There's also a bust of Ann Sheridan used as a red herring (it gets schlepped from address to address, and then vanishes completely), not to mention a grieving widow who can't wait to get into court and tell all of Los Angeles that her husband cheated on her. Sheridan performs the central role in near catatonia, her sad mouth always down-turned, while screenwriters David Goodis and James Gunn give all the brightest lines to society girlfriend Eve Arden (as a goosey, gossiping relative). Lew Ayres plays a bachelor friend--a divorce lawyer who suddenly turns criminal trial lawyer!--while wide-eyed, incredulous-looking Zachary Scott is miscast as Sheridan's husband. Long at 109 minutes, the film is not well-paced nor well-written, but does have moments of intriguing, masochistic melodrama. ** from ****