L'infidèle

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.