Harold French - Unpublished Story (1942)

Quote:

Unpublished Story is an extremely well executed British World War II propaganda piece, and what sets it apart from other entries in this subgenre is its clever plot centered around that very topic. The film's pace is unstoppable; the script by Patrick Kirwan and Lesley Storm based on a story by Anthony Havelock-Allan is intelligent, well-written, and unique in its approach to the subject matter; and the acting is of the usual high caliber that devotees of even the lowest-budgeted British quickies have come to expect in which the smallest roles are perfectly cast.

Richard Greene, who is excellent here, appeared in dozens of costume epics throughout the 1940s and '50s, starring in B-flicks but usually playing second banana to the likes of Cornell Wilde in major productions such as Otto Preminger's Forever Amber in 1947. I first knew him as Robin Hood in the TV series that ran from 1955 to 1960, and other horror fans may remember him in the "Wish You Were Here" episode of Freddie Francis's EC Comics-style anthology Tales from the Crypt (1972), a horrifyingly gruesome take on "The Monkey's Paw" in which he suffered a fate literally worse than death. He's the British equivalent of Robert Cummings, a handsome, dashing, and dedicated actor who rarely got the recognition he deserved, and his role in Unpublished Story is similar to Cummings's character in Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur made the same year.

Valerie Hobson is probably best known as Colin Clive's wife in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Henry Hull's distaff side in Werewolf of London. She does play a fashion writer here with "Clothes by Rahvis," but some of her costumes look so outré they could have been leftovers from either of those two earlier films. She had a lead role opposite Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Raoul Walsh's Jump for Glory in 1937, and while she gives a fine performance here, she wasn't really recognized until toward the end of her career in Kind Hearts and Cornets (1949) and The Rocking Horse Winner (1950).

The film was directed by Harold French who helmed two other British propaganda films in 1942, The Day Will Dawn and Secret Mission, and several others throughout the war, along with some light comedies. The cinematography is by Bernard Knowles, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock on five films in the 1930s including The 39 Steps, Secret Agent, and Sabotage, and the original Gaslight directed by Thorold Dickinson and released in the United States as Angel Street. --DVD Verdict








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