The Unknown Man *** (1951, Walter Pidgeon, Ann Harding, Barry Sullivan, Keefe Brasselle) – Classic Movie Review 12,076

Director Richard Thorpe’s 1951 MGM black and white courtroom drama movie The Unknown Man stars Walter Pidgeon, Ann Harding, Barry Sullivan and Keefe Brasselle.

It is a contrived but satisfying and twisting little B-movie thriller story, told in flashback by district attorney Joe Bucknor (Barry Sullivan) to his students, with Walter Pidgeon giving it a lift as defence attorney Dwight Bradley Masen [Brad Masen], a lawyer defending young Rudi Walchek (Keefe Brasselle) in a murder trial.

Rudi Walchek is accused of knifing to death the 19-year-old son of a local locksmith. Masen (Pidgeon) gets Rudi (Brasselle) off, but then finds evidence to prove that he is guilty after all. After the trial, Rudi says something that makes Masen realise he has defended a guilty man. The DA Joe Bucknor (Barry Sullivan) refuses to retry the case because of double jeopardy.

The Unknown Man is entertaining as long as you don’t expect the far-fetched plot to hold much water. It is written by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel.

It flopped. It cost $618,000 and earned $711,000 worldwide, resulting in a loss for MGM of $455,000.

The cast are Walter Pidgeon as Brad Masen, Ann Harding as Stella Masen, Barry Sullivan as DA Joe Bucknor, Keefe Brasselle as Rudi Walchek, Lewis Stone as Judge James V. Holbrook, Eduard Franz as Andy Layford, Richard Anderson as Bob Masen, Dawn Addams as Ellie Fansworth, Philip Ober as Wayne Kellwin, Konstantin Shayne as Peter Hulderman, Mari Blanchard as Sally Tever, Don Beddoe as Fingerprint Man Ed, John Maxwell as Dr. Palmer, and Robert Williams as Deputy Sam.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,076

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