The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry *** (1945, George Sanders, Ella Raines, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Moyna MacGill, Sara Allgood) – Classic Movie Review 8885

Thomas Job’s 1942 Broadway murder mystery play Uncle Harry is set in Yorkshire in 1900, but here in director Robert Siodmak’s 1945 black and white film noir thriller The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, the story is strangely relocated to New Hampshire circa 1945.

However, it still features a mild kind of man, (played by George Sanders), amiable middle-aged bachelor Harry Quincey, the head designer in a small-town cloth factory, who lives in their big family house with his two selfish sisters, pretty but spoiled invalid Lettie (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and hard-working widow Hester (Moyna MacGill). But then Uncle Harry falls for his new designer colleague at the factory, a nice young woman called Deborah Brown (Ella Raines).

They plan to get married and live together in the big family house, finding the sisters a new home, to the fury of his glamorous hypochondriac sister Lettie, who tries to sabotage Harry’s romance with his co-worker. When Lettie collapses and is taken to hospital, Deborah makes Harry choose, he chooses his sister and Harry and Deborah part, seemingly forever. Then Harry remembers Lettie bought poison for the euthanisation of their dog…

Unfortunately, there is a fairly low-impact screenplay by Stephen Longstreet and Keith Winter, and an unsatisfying changed ending that was manipulated to please the censors, the Motion Picture Production Code. [Though, even so, please note the credits warning: ‘In order that your friends may enjoy this picture, please do not disclose the ending.’] But Siodmak’s intense and atmospheric direction, Paul Ivano’s moody black and white cinematography and the good performances (especially from the excellent Sanders and Fitzgerald) make some very considerable amends.

Alfred Hitchcock’s regular collaborator Joan Harrison produces this Hitchcockian movie.

Also in the cast are Sara Allgood as Nona, Samuel S Hinds as Dr Adams, Harry von Zell as Ben, Judy Clark as Helen, Coulter Irwin as Biff Wagner and Craig Reynolds as John Warren.

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry [Uncle Harry] [Guilty of Murder?] is directed by Robert Siodmak, runs 80 minutes, is made by Charles K Feldman Group, is released by Universal Pictures, is written by Stephen Longstreet (screenplay) and Keith Winter (adaptation), based on Thomas Job’s play Uncle Harry, shot in black and white by Paul Ivano, is produced by Charles K Feldman (executive producer) and Joan Harrison and is scored by Hans J Salter, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Paul Dessau, with Art Direction by John B Goodman and Eugène Lourié.

It was shot at Republic Studios and Universal Studios in California, and on location in New Hampshire.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8885

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