I must say that Anne Sheridan is woefully miscast here. Although Anne Sheridan is delightful in many a comedy (after all she is the original "oomph girl") she is dreary and sullen here - and not just because the subject is unhappy and quite serious. When Zachary Scott confronts her after first finding out that she has been unfaithful, Anne might as well have been giving him the unfortunate news that she forgot to pick up the milk on her way home. Eve Arden is here and that's always fun! And despite a truly amazing performance in "All Quiet On The Western Front" I always tend to find Lew Ayers to be pretty much dull as a dishrag. But Zachary Scott is always wonderful and woos with his great acting range (watch this film and then try his film debut "The Mask of Dimitrios" for a viewing treat from one end of the Scott spectrum to the other) Overall, "The Unfaithful" is quite good, just some less than inspired casting in places.

This combination of a murder mystery and post-war reclamation of Family life is Film-Noir at its definition but not in its execution. It is handled quite regularly and straightforward, aside from some very effective L.A. street scenes that evoke Noir overtones.It's most effective in its "new" Hollywood discovering of extramarital affairs brought on by quick vows and hasty deployment by our Military. Predictably some of these quick, for convenience Marriages could not hold true, especially for the left alone "War Widows" who had little time to fall deeply in love with their Husbands.The mystery and courtroom part pales in comparison to the social drama and infidelity conundrums, and it is the deconstructing psychology of this unfortunate situation that compels this to above average Cinema. Eve Arden's accurate understanding insight and delineation speech is quite a mid 1940's welcome revelation to Movie audiences. It was this very seldom open discussion about private affairs that elevates this one and moves it to the periphery of Film-Noir.

***SPOILERS*** Loosely based on the 1940 Bette Davis smash hit "The Letter" by W. Somerset Maugham. The film "the Unfaithful" has successful home builder and decorated combat veteran Bob Hunter, Zachary Scott,finding out to his everlasting shock and humiliation that his wife was cheating on him behind his back when he was with the US Marines in the South Pacific dodging Jap bullets and mortar shells.This all come out when Bob's cheating wife Chris,Ann Sheridan, stabbed to death her ex-lover Michael Tanner, Paul Bradley, when he tried to restart his illicit affair with her one dark evening by breaking into her and Bob's suburban L.A home. Making it look like self-defense it later comes out that Chris had her portrait sculptured by Tanner during the time hubby Bob was risking his life fighting the Japs in Pacific island hellholes like Guadalcanal and Tarawa. It's Bob & Chris'good friend and divorce lawyer Larry Hannaford, Lew Ayres, who discovered this shocking fact when he was contacted by antique dealer Martin Barrow, Steven Geray, whom the late Michael Tanner sold Chris' sculpture to.Trying to keep her relationship with Tanner from her husband Bob Chris ends up making things a lot worse then they already were. It proved that Chris had a good reason in killing Tanner in keeping him from blackmailing her. Barrow who was only interested in collecting the blackmail money, a cool $10,000.00, was overruled by Tanner's grieving wife, Marta Mitrovich, who only wanted revenge by having the already emotionally destroyed Chris sent to the San Quentin gas chamber for her husbands cold-blooded murder. This despite the fact that her two-timing husband Michael was having an affair with Chris while she was home slaving over the stove cooking his supper which, by fooling around with Chris, he rarely ate!***SPOILER ALERT*** It was the wise and experienced, in family matters, Larry Hannaford-Esquire-who set things straight for both Bob & Chris in getting them to put aside their differences and kiss and make up. Larry who deals with situations like husbands and wives who are on the outs saw in both Bob and Chris hope in that they got caught up in things beyond their control: WWII and the difficulties it brought to newlywed couples like themselves. In being separated from Bob for years at a time Chris never really knew if he'll ever come back to her or end up getting himself killed on a Jap controlled Pacicfic island or, while in transit, in a kamikaze suicide attack on his US Navy troopship. ***MAJOR SPOILER*** With Larry's skillful defense of Chris on her first degree murder trial he convinced the jury that it was Michael not Chris who was the person most responsible for his untimely death by not letting go of his obsession for Chris. This lead to a kill or be killed situation with Chris in fighting for her life ending up as the soul survivor. As for the hurt and feeling down in the dumps Bob in Chris dropping him, a decorated combat veteran, for a cowardly 4F draft dodger he, with Larry's help, learned to live with it and take a grateful Chris back thus putting his, and Chris, shattered life back together again.

From the opening credits, underscored by Max Steiner's propulsive, unrelenting theme, this is a powerful film. Although loosely based on "The Letter," it is really not about sexual hypocrisy, but rather deals with the price of loneliness that World War II exacted on women at the home front. That price would of course also affect the returning soldiers, spouses of those women. At one point a character refers to the adulterous wife's "debt to society"--certainly not the sort of comment that would be likely to turn up in a film today--but the movie also takes pains to present the wife as a basically decent and honest person.Other films of the time that dealt with variations on that theme are "Till the End of Time" and "The Best Years of Our Lives." The discontents of the returning soldier have been depicted for millennia, as attested by the "welcome" that Agamemnon receives on returning home from the Trojan War. While the narrator at the movie's start accurately says that the story could take place anywhere, post-war Los Angeles is very nicely evoked, with quite a bit of location shooting. Among them: the atrium office building also featured in "DOA"; a hillside cable car, and a seedy hotel located opposite a high, menacing traffic embankment. There is also some nice blocking of the action in the suburban house, the emblem of the American Dream gone awry. (That Zachary Scott's character is a housing developer, when his own household is in disarray, has a paradoxical aspect.)Fine performances from all the principals, especially Ann Sheridan, who really shines. Eve Arden is also fine as an unexpected ally and, in contrast to her usual comic roles, has some strong dramatic moments.