Unmasked

Our Miss Brooks' Robert Rockwell stars with Raymond Burr, Barbara Fuller, Hillary Brooke, and John Eldredge in Unmasked, a Republic noir.

A very formidable Burr play a tabloid editor, Roger Lewis, Roger Lewis, who is seeing Linda Jackson (Fuller) the wife of a producer, Harry Jackson (Paul Harvey). She's investing in one of his ventures, but in fact, her husband is now broke. She wants to sell her jewels and divorce him.

Lewis is only interested in the jewels. Meanwhile, Jackson, afraid his wife is going to throw the jewels away on Lewis, has taken them. After Lewis fights with her husband, kills him, and takes the jewels, he kills Linda and frames her husband.

Robert Rockwell plays the detective trying to find the murderer.

Interesting for Raymond Burr. People probably don't realize that Robert Rockwell had a long career - if anyone remembers the grandfather in the Werther's candy commercial - that was him.

In his many appearances in the noir cycle, Raymond Burr usually supplied the bitter icing for the devil's-food cake. But his few starring roles (Unmasked, Please Murder Me) landed him in vehicles that, in look and length, resembled the Perry Mason show for which he would soon become rich and famous. Were it a bit longer and more stylish, Unmasked might have been a competitive entry in the cycle; as it stands, it's standard-issue Republic fare, memorable chiefly owing to Burr.

He plays a slimy scandal-sheet editor (thus taking his place in a line of sinister media luminaries portrayed in, among others, Laura, The Big Clock, Scandal Sheet, The Glass Web and Slander). He can't be very good at selling his rag, because it depends on subventions from showgirl Hillary Brooke, who made it big on Broadway. Burr woos her with empty promises, knowing she can't get a divorce from husband Paul Harvey, an older impresario now reduced to living in a bed-sitter with a hotplate. To avoid signing yet more promissory notes, Burr strangles Brooke and frames Harvey for the murder.

The rest of the movie devolves into routine cops-and-robbers stuff. Coming to her father's aid, Harvey's schoolteacher daughter journeys down to Manhattan from one of those many upstate New York towns that resemble sunny California; police detective Robert Rockwell helps her (he got gypped; he takes star billing but a dull secondary role). Added to the mix are an informant (Norman Budd, who tells Burr `You kinda like to hate in bunches, don't you?'); a gangster (John Eldredge) whose brother is killed during a prison break; and several excursions to a foggy place on Long Island Sound called Swenson's Landing. Still, Burr brings to it his suave black magic, never more effective than when the huge orbs of his eyes flash with gleeful malice.

Roger Lewis, publisher of a vicious scandal sheet, is in the habit of tricking wealthy, gullible women into investing in his ventures. His latest conquest is a shapely ex-showgirl, Doris King, the wife of Harry Jackson, once a top-flight producer. Jackson has lost all his money, but Doris still has her jewels, and she wants to divorce her husband and marry Lewis, who has no intentions of marrying her once he gets his hands on her (money) jewels. Jackson, concerned about Doris' happiness and wanting to prevent her from ruining her life, takes the jewels. Then he becomes involved in a fight with Lewis, who takes his revenge by killing Doris and pinning suspicion on Jackson. Jackson goes into hiding and falls prey to a small-time crook, "Biggie" Wolfe, who is secretly in the pay of Lewis. Wolfe wants to sell the jewelry and keep the proceeds for himself, telling Jackson the money will serve to get him the services of a good lawyer, but Lewis wants Jackson found with the jewels on him, and he orders "Biggie" to return them. MEABWHILE, Jackson's daughter, Linda, instigates a police search for her father and Detective Lt. Jim Webster and his assistant Newcombe bring so much pressure on Jackson that he commits suicide. This lets "Biggie" off the hook reference returning the jewels and he looks up gangster Johnny Rocco, who does business at the place of an old Long Island sea-dog, "Pop" Swenson, and Rocco offers to buy the jewels IF "Biggie" will arrange a border-crossing for his brother Mort, who is set to break out of the state penitentiary. Lewis wrings this information out of "Biggie" and takes it to District Attorney George Richards, who warns the prison officials and Mort is killed in the attempted jail break. Rocco learns the source of the leak, is somewhat miffed at "Big-Mouth Biggie", takes him for a ride, comes back alone and hatches a plot to get Lewis.

"Unmasked" is a B-movie from Republic Pictures. As such, I had pretty low expectations. However, the script turned out to be pretty good and Raymond Burr does what he did best...plays a terrific heavy.

Roger Lewis (Burr) is a scumbag who publishes a scandalous rag. However, despite being a real muckraker, his paper isn't doing all that well and he has needed loans from a rich woman who, inexplicably, loves him. You can say the feeling DEFINITELY is not reciprocated, as Lewis murders her and frames her estranged husband for the killing. Eventually, the case is closed when the husband is found dead. But there is, of course, MUCH more to the story than that.

The best thing about the film is the merciless performance by Burr...one of the 1950s best bad guys. His image was completely changed with his later TV roles, but in film noir pictures, he was a common sight...and a welcome one because of how well he played these awful characters. Well worth seeing and proof that B is NOT synonymous with Bad!

I must concur with the other review of this Republic crime programmer. It's an above average b-crime film with an interesting blackmail/murder plot, but what makes it a classic is the stunning performance by Raymond Burr as the blackmailing, murdering, malicious, sleazy scandal-sheet publisher/editor. Burr had a long string of fine performances as villains in his pre-Perry Mason days, but this is one of the three or four best, perhaps because in standard Republic fashion the leads are quite bland. Paul Harvey is superb as the weak-willed theatrical producer whose wife is killed; Hillary Brooke isn't in the film that much, but she's quite memorable as the unpleasant Doris King; and Norman Budd is charming as the comedic, bungling, cigar-stealing criminal underling. The two leads, Robert Rockwell as the police detective and Barbara Fuller as Harvey's daughter, are somewhat bland, although it's hard to tell if the script or the performers were to blame. This was not uncommon at Republic, where the stuntmen and the supporting players are often more interesting than the no-name leads. Still, Republic b-programmers are always slickly put together and fast moving, and this one is no exception. Those who love Raymond Burr's early supporting work MUST see this film. Those who like Burr but are not too familiar with his pre-Perry Mason work must also see it--your respect for Burr, which may already be high, will grow much deeper. He was an amazing talent who is sorely missed. There were no small roles for him--if it was a bottom-of-the-bill b-movie that few if any critics would see, Burr still gave the film his full talents. In this film, Raymond Burr passes the ultimate test for a movie villain: you almost cheer him along, wanting to see how much evil he can get away with! Bravo, Mr. Burr!!!