Unmasked *** (1950, Robert Rockwell, Barbra Fuller, Raymond Burr, Hillary Brooke) – Classic Movie Review 11,490

‘Smeared by Scandal that led to MURDER! SHOCK STORY of a VICIOUS RACKET! SHAKEDOWN RACKET Exposed!’

Republic Pictures’ lively 1950 American black and white crime film Unmasked is directed by George Blair, and stars Robert Rockwell, Barbra Fuller, Raymond Burr and Hillary Brooke.

Raymond Burr is outstanding as the blackmailing, murderous scandal-sheet publisher Roger Lewis, who tricks gullible rich women into investing in his ventures. His latest is ex-showgirl Doris King (Hillary Brooke), the wife of producer Harry Jackson (Paul Harvey), who has lost his money, but Doris still has her jewellery and wants to divorce him and marry Lewis, who has other ideas.

It runs just 60 minutes but they are good, noirish ones.

Unmasked is written by Manuel Seff (story), Paul Yawitz (story), Albert DeMond (screenplay) and Norman S Hall (screenplay), shot by Bud Thackery, produced by Stephen Auer, scored by Stanley Wilson and designed by art director Frank Hotaling.

The main cast are Robert Rockwell as Detective Lt. James ‘Jim’ Webster, Barbra Fuller as Linda Jackson, Raymond Burr as Roger Lewis, Hillary Brooke as Doris King Jackson, Paul Harvey as Harry Jackson, Norman Budd as ‘Biggie’ Wolfe, John Eldredge as Johnny Rocco, Emory Parnell as ‘Pop’ Swenson, Russell Hicks as District Attorney George Richards, Grace Albertson as Lewis’s sweetheart Mona Durant,  Lester Sharpe as Pawnbroker Mr. Schmidt, Charles Quigley as Police Detective Newcombe, Barbara Pepper as Mrs. Schmidt, Charles Trowbridge as Dr. Lowell, and Harry Harvey as Saunders.

Raymond Burr and Natalie Wood star in A Cry in the Night (1956).

The Best of Raymond Burr: Desperate (1947), Sleep, My Love (1948), Raw Deal (1948), Pitfall (1948), Abandoned (1949), Red Light (1949), M (1951), His Kind of Woman (1951), The Blue Gardenia (1953), Walk a Crooked Mile (1948), Borderline (1950), Unmasked (1950), The Whip Hand (1951), FBI Girl (1951), Meet Danny Wilson (1952), Rear Window (1954), They Were So Young (1954), A Cry in the Night (1956), Affair in Havana (1957), and Crime of Passion (1957).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,490

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/