Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

classicsoncall Ann Sheridan became my favorite classic film actress on the strength of feisty performances in films like 1938's "Angels With Dirty Faces" and 1940's "City For Conquest". Here she portrays a conflicted character who's had an affair and killed her former lover when he refuses to concede that the romance is over. Because the viewer doesn't know this when the story begins, it appears to be an open and shut case once she's arrested for murder. The intriguing story that follows contains several twists and turns that makes this a thinking person's movie, one that challenges a typical reaction that a divorce between the aggrieved parties is a foregone conclusion.The player who really makes one sit up and take notice however is Lew Ayres as attorney Larry Hannaford, lawyer and personal friend of Chris Hunter (Sheridan) and her husband Bob (Zachary Scott). Initially sympathetic to Chris's plight, he really lets her have it when he uncovers the truth of her affair, comparing her to any number of 'cheating, conniving women who parade through my office'. He eventually tempers his disdain over the situation by realizing that Chris didn't have it in her to murder a man wantonly, and so takes up her murder trial defense.Now this art shop guy Barrow (Steven Geray) was a real low down creep, wasn't he? Seeing dollar signs in it for himself when he connects the dots on newspaper headlines about the Tanner killing, he holds out for a ten thousand dollar payday by bringing in the widow Tanner (Marta Mitrovich) on his scheme. To get a good idea of Ann Sheridan's range as an actress, just catch her reaction when Barrow tells her Mrs. Tanner has the bust that Michael Tanner sculpted using her as a model. It was a foreboding look that held the threat of everything in her life about to fall apart.Actress Eve Arden also displays a side to her acting ability I haven't seen before as well. Watching her as 'Our Miss Brooks' in TV reruns back in the Fifties, I'm more familiar with her comedic side, but she proved she was capable of inserting a capital 'B' into a colorful description of her character Paula. In case you're wondering, the word rhymes with 'witch'.Ultimately this becomes a bittersweet story once Mrs. Hunter survives her murder trial and is acquitted. Then it becomes attorney Hannaford's job to try and patch up the canyon wide differences between the Hunters. The dialog that sets up what might be a successful reconciliation is the kind of writing one generally doesn't come across in pictures of the era, and works to significantly elevate the quality of the picture.

JLRMovieReviews One night coming home, Ann Sheridan is accosted at her front door by an intruder who pushes her in and begins to beat her. Fade out. Fade in. There's a body on her living room floor. We would be more intrigued by this scenario, had it not been for the title, and also for the fact that we can tell by her mannerisms and the way she looked at him that she knew the guy. Husband Zachary Scott has been serving his country, but happens to be coming home the morning the body is lying in their living room. She is questioned by the police and friend-of-the-family/lawyer Lew Ayres and she sticks to her story that she defended herself against a stranger. But, after Lew has done a little sleuthing for himself and cornered her, she tells more but still not all. Costarring Eve Arden and Jerome Cowan, this is a very unflinching and real take on infidelity. Ann Sheridan didn't get many chances to show off her acting chops, as she was usually given musicals or comedies; but here she is able to convey depth in a rare dramatic role. The fact is though we usually liked Ann Sheridan in her comedies, but here she is placed in a rather unpleasant, unsympathetic position. The film, as it progresses, is well made and well mounted, but the deeper she gets, the more we feel it's the bed she made for herself. (Sleep in it.) Eve Arden is on hand as usual with her quick one-liners, but we don't like her either as she comes across as catty and mean to Ann. I liked its less-is-more ending with a somber but hopeful look towards the future rather than a pat happy ending with cheery smiles. The main criticism I have of the film is that, while Lew Ayres was rather good and suitably cast as the lawyer with high ideals (as he was a conscientious objector to WWII), his words of wisdom (near the end of the picture) for the couple with a rough road ahead seemed a bit preachy and/or sanctimonious to me. But otherwise, "The Unfaithful" was a very entertaining film, directed by Vincent Sherman, who once again delivered the goods in fashionable style.

RanchoTuVu The unfaithfulness referred to in the title reveals itself with a fair amount of intrigue as the film rolls on. However, by the end it has been sanitized to fit into the supposed audience expectations of the day. The story moves along fairly well with the details coming out after wife Ann Sheridan kills an intruder who had forced his way into her upper middle class home she shares with real estate developer and WW2 vet husband played by Zachary Scott. Who the intruder actually was and other aspects get doled out leading to a trial with aggressive DA played by over the top but interesting Jerome Cowan facing off against family friend and high class divorce lawyer Lew Ayres. Ayres has significant screen time and makes for an interesting 1940's LA divorce lawyer. The best scene goes out of the studio and on location in LA as the intruder's wife reads about her husband's death in the paper while she's taking a trolly down a steep street somewhere in 1940's LA. The intruder turns out to have been an interesting guy and it's good that the film can weave his story into the plot so well.

wes-connors Coming home from a late-night party, Southern California socialite Ann Sheridan (as Christine "Chris" Hunter) is attacked by a man outside the doorway to her home. The shadowy man shoves Ms. Sheridan inside the house, and an off-screen struggle ensues. We are permitted inside, with investigators, to discover Sheridan has stabbed her attacker to death. Soon, understanding lawyer Lew Ayres (as Lawrence "Larry Hannaford) and husband Zachary Scott (as Robert "Bob" Hunter) are there to comfort Sheridan. It seems like an easy self-defense case, but Sheridan may learn that, sometimes, dead men do tell tales… "The Unfaithful" is a familiar story, probably most recognizable in film as W. Somerset Maugham's "The Letter" (1940).There isn't much admirable done with the story. Here, Sheridan's character is portrayed as a woman who "can only stand so much." Where Bette Davis (in 1940) seemed strong, Sheridan seems weak. And, her weakness is applied to women as a group. Note how Ayers' lawyer universally blames females for divorce. And, of course, nobody would question an overseas soldier's fidelity. Still, this version features great locations, and is beautifully photographed and directed by Ernest Haller and Vincent Sherman. Sheridan and the cast perform it well, and gossipy divorcée Eve Arden (as Paula) comes on strong near the end.****** The Unfaithful (6/5/47) Vincent Sherman ~ Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden