The Unknown | |
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Directed by | Henry Levin |
Written by | Carlton E. Morse Charles O'Neal Dwight V. Babcock |
Based on | radio play Faith, Hope and Charity Sisters by Malcolm Stuart Boylan and Julian Harmon |
Produced by | Wallace MacDonald |
Starring | Karen Morley Jim Bannon Jeff Donnell |
Narrated by | Frank Martin |
Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
Edited by | Art Seid (as Arthur Seid) |
Production company | Columbia Pictures |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Unknown is a 1946 American mystery film directed by Henry Levin made by Columbia Pictures as the third and final part of its I Love a Mystery series based on the popular radio program. [1] The previous films were I Love a Mystery (1945) and The Devil's Mask (1946). [2]
The film is a loose adaptation of the I Love a Mystery radio episode Faith, Hope, and Charity, Sisters, [3] which was remade in a later version of the radio series, in '49, as The Thing That Cries in the Night, starring Russell Thorson, Jim Boles, and Tony Randall as the private detectives, and Mercedes MacCambridge as the stewardess and Cherry (Charity).
It is also known as The Coffin. [4]
This article needs a plot summary.(January 2024) |
TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, describing it as "filled with all the things that are guaranteed to make audiences jump out of their seats, such as hidden passageways, a hooded grave robber, eerie shadows, and mysterious killings". [5]
Inner Sanctum Mystery, also known as Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster. In all, 526 episodes were broadcast.
Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge was an American actress of radio, stage, film, and television. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress". She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her screen debut in All the King's Men (1949) and was nominated in the same category for Giant (1956). She voiced the majority of dialogue for demon Pazuzu in The Exorcist (1973).
William Joseph Schallert was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957–1959), Death Valley Days (1955–1962), and The Patty Duke Show (1963–1966).
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment with Fear.
I Love a Mystery is an American radio drama series that aired 1939–44, about three friends who ran a detective agency and traveled the world in search of adventure. Written by Carlton E. Morse, the program was the polar opposite of Morse's other success, the long-running One Man's Family.
Hugh Milburn Stone was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" on the Western series Gunsmoke.
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis. They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946; the team lasted ten years to the day. Before they teamed up, Martin was a nightclub singer, while Lewis performed a comedy act lip-synching to records.
William Maurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career.
William Barton Yarborough was an American actor who worked extensively in radio drama, primarily on the NBC Radio Network. He is famous for his roles in the Carlton E. Morse productions I Love a Mystery, in which he played Doc Long, and One Man's Family, spending 19 years portraying Clifford Barbour. In addition, Yarborough spent three years portraying Sgt. Ben Romero on Jack Webb's Dragnet.
James Shorttel Bannon was an American actor and radio announcer known for his work on the I Love a Mystery and Red Ryder series during the 1940s and 1950s.
Walter Reed was an American stage, film and television actor.
Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. His best known credits were Jolson Sings Again (1949), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and Where the Boys Are (1960).
James Judson Harmon, better known as Jim Harmon, was an American short story author and popular culture historian who wrote extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes used the pseudonym Judson Grey, and occasionally he was labeled Mr. Nostalgia.
Holmes Herbert was an English character actor who appeared in Hollywood films from 1915 to 1952, often as a British gentleman.
Crime Doctor (1943) is a crime film adapted from the radio series of the same name. The film stars Warner Baxter as a man with amnesia determined to remember his past. As with the radio series, the film deals with the complex issues of mental health and moral responsibility in the criminal-justice system. The film was released by Columbia Pictures.
Neva Carr Glyn or Neva Carr Glynn was an Australian stage, film and radio actress born in Melbourne to Arthur Benjamin Carr Glyn, a humorous baritone and stage manager born in Ireland, and Marie Carr Glyn, née Marie Dunoon Senior, an actress with the stage name "Marie Avis". She had one half-sister Gwendoline Arnold O'Neill and two half-brothers Sacheverill Arnold Mola and Rupert Arnold Mola. She was named "Neva" after a great-aunt, who was a contralto of some quality. Both spellings of her surname appear in print roughly equally and apparently arbitrarily.
I Love a Mystery is a 1945 American mystery film directed by Henry Levin and starring Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready, and Barton Yarborough. Based on Carlton E. Morse's popular radio serial of the same name, I Love a Mystery was the first of three Columbia "B" pictures inspired by the radio series and the only one actually based on a script written by Morse for the radio series. The Devil's Mask and The Unknown followed in 1946.
The Crowd Roars is a 1938 American sports drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Taylor as a boxer who gets entangled in the seamier side of the sport. It was remade in 1947 as Killer McCoy, featuring Mickey Rooney in the title role. This film was not a remake of the 1932 film of the same name starring James Cagney. The supporting cast for the 1938 version features Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, Lionel Stander, and Jane Wyman.
The Devil's Mask is a 1946 American crime film directed by Henry Levin and starring Anita Louise, Jim Bannon and Michael Duane.The film was the second of three B pictures based on the popular radio series I Love a Mystery. As well as its crime theme, the film also incorporates elements of horror. It was preceded by I Love a Mystery, and followed by The Unknown.
John Hugh Elliott was an American actor who appeared on Broadway and in over 300 films during his career. He worked sporadically during the silent film era, but with the advent of sound his career took off, where he worked constantly for 25 years, finding a particular niche in "B" westerns.