Tonight's Movie: Unmasked (1950) at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

I saw half a dozen new-to me films at the recently concluded Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, and of those movies, my favorite was probably UNMASKED (1950), a 60-minute "B" movie originally released by Republic Pictures.

Immediately after the movie I described it on Twitter: "Great cast, short, fast-paced, and slightly stupid at times, in the most delightful ways. Loved it."

Raymond Burr plays Roger Lewis, editor of a sleazy tabloid. He has a girlfriend, his secretary Mona (Grace Gillern), but has also been having an affair with Doris (Hillary Brooke), wife of Harry Jackson (Paul Harvey).

Harry is angry and worried about Doris and takes her jewels to protect them. Roger, who was just using Doris to obtain funds to keep his paper afloat, shows up at her apartment right after Harry and strangles her; he burns his IOUs to Doris and frames Harry for the murder.

Harry's sweet daughter Linda (longtime radio actress Barbra Fuller) and Lt. Jim Webster (Robert Rockwell) work to find Harry and solve Doris's murder.

This is a speedy hour written by Albert DeMond and Norman S. Hall from a story by Manuel Seff and Paul Yawitz. It was directed by George Blair and filmed in black and white by Bud Thackery.

The movie packs a lot of plot -- including mobsters and even a jailbreak! -- into a short film.

Burr is quite creepy; there's a great closeup as he closes in to kill the unsuspecting Doris. Film noir fans are aware that Burr played villains in a number of other films of the era, but still, it can be a shock to see "Perry Mason" playing such a reprehensible, amoral character!

Familiar faces in the cast include John Eldredge, Emory Parnell, Barbara Pepper, Russell Hicks, Charles Trowbridge, and Harry Harvey.

Grace Gillern, who plays Mona, was also known as Grace Albertson and was the longtime wife of actor Frank Albertson.

I felt fortunate to see this film in its digital theatrical premiere from Paramount Pictures, which currently owns the movie. The print was terrific.

I'd love to see this released on DVD or Blu-ray, perhaps in a set with similar "B" films. It's grand fun for fans of "B" crime movies.  

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