Mister X, l'uomo nell'ombra

Wow, what a great piece of 50's trash! Lush, colorful sets, great old cars and Esther walking around in sexy 50's tight dresses. The plot has already been mentioned above so I won't rehash. One question that sticks out in my mind, who would say no to John Saxon, he is a sex god in this movie, like an hunkier, hornier Sal Mineo! If they had gotten George Nader to take his shirt off more in this it would have been a 50's wet dream! Sexual repression doesn't get any better than this movie! Even Saxon's dad played by Edward Andrews is an old perv..everything was so subtle in this era...Esther Willaims actually was a pretty good actress here, they should have used her in more movies like this!

This is an AMC, Tuesday afternoon flick that you CANNOT STOP WATCHING! Great trash! Here we see Esther Williams (and not a glimpse of a swimming suit) as a sexually harassed high school teacher. The object of her harrassment... a young, and not hair challenged John Saxon. Great sets, great love interest in the cop who comes to her aid... This is a very interesting time capsule about sensibilities in the 1950s. It is implied, if not stated, that if poor ole Esther would only give up her crazy career notions and settle down, she's not be in so much trouble!

While Saxon gives a wooden performance (in more ways than one), veteran character actor Edward Andrews shines as the boy's demented father. What a champ he was to go into this B-movie and give it his all. It's not as if he wasn't in demand as a character actor. (He was second only to Whit Bissel as the guy you knew, but couldn't name in the movies.) He was always turning up as the client on "Bewitched" or in a small supporting film role. He was perfect as the big, rotund, Babbitt-like small town banker who got his in the end.

The sets are perfect 50's, especially the school. Esther Williams gives a good performance in a Rosalind Russell script, although after this one, she hung up her bathing suit and retired to a life of luxury. Still, isn't it odd that her character is so naive? She walks about in a daze, wondering how a teenage boy could have a sexual interest in her. Even in middle age, she was quite an attractive woman. Why is this so surprising to her? Of course, this film does what ALL good, exploitive trash films do... it opens doors, says one thing while doing another and asks us to stretch our sensibilities a bit.

Next time you're home, sick from work, flip on AMC on TV. It might be 9am or 1 in the afternoon. If it's "The Unguarded Moment', the trash flickering in front of you will keep you captivated. You'll still be thinking about it at dinner time too!

This time, don't expect anything "wet" in this Esther Williams performance, nothing at all. She on the contrary shows us that she was more than a swimming pool ingenue, or a simple comedy faire valoir...she was a genuine good actress. I won't come back to this stiry, but it's a surprisingly good suspense, especially starring an actress who was always put in a specific category, swimming musicals for MGM company. Don't miss it.

The "unguarded moment" seems to come from the forties ,when the Freudian movie was so trendy: "secret beyond the door" "cat people" " "spiral staircase" "the dark mirror" ,the list is endless.

Unfortunately it's marred by a providential love story between the teacher and the cop.Had it focused on the father/son relationship,the movie could have renewed the genre.The character of the father is by far the most interesting of the screenplay: he must have failed professionally as well as sexually in his own life and he wants his whizz kid (a young John Saxon) to be all that he could not be .If he disappoints him,he will break him!Esther Williams is an attractive teacher ,but to be interesting ,such a character needed to show some ambiguousness.After the first thirty minutes ,there's no real surprise.

Watch it for Edward Andrews' offbeat performance.

In her first nonaquatic role, Esther Williams plays a school teacher who's the victim of sexual assault. She gives a fine performance, proving she could be highly effective out of the swimming pool. As the detective out to solve the case, George Nader gives perhaps his finest performance. And he is so handsome it hurts! John Saxon is the student under suspicion, and although he gets impressive billing in the credits, it's Edward Andrews as his overly-protective father who is the standout.

Bathed in glorious Technicolor, The Unguarded Moment is irresistible hokum and at times compelling drama.