Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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.

Ann Sheridan, Zachary Scott, and Lew Ayres star in a much watered down version of W. Somerset Maugham's The Letter. If you've seen either or both the Jeanne Eagels or Bette Davis versions you will be vastly disappointed in what the Brothers Warner give us here. The Davis version differs slightly from the original Eagels film, but nothing like what this one is about.Instead of exotic Malaya this is set in America and it involves a woman who married a GI just before him shipping out and then drifts into an affair with a sculptor. As in the other versions we see Ann Sheridan killing him as the film opens and telling LAPD homicide cop John Hoyt that she killed a burglar. Which of course he doesn't buy.Zachary Scott is the husband who stands by her and Lew Ayres provides a spirited defense. If you know the plot of The Letter you know what happens.Taking the setting out of Malaya was a horrible mistake as it robbed the story of the racial component so essential in the plot. Worse was a false happy ending of sorts.The writers were credited with an ORIGINAL screenplay because I'll bet Maugham did not want his name associated with this. I don't blame him.A talented cast wasted on watered down tripe.

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.

And that is a compliment for a film noir.This is a strange movie, both daring in its subject matter and shackled by the censors. So a sculptor did a head of Ann Sheridan while hubby Zachary Scott was away in the war. Surely this ought to have been a full nude.Still, it captures the frustration of someone left alone for a long period (Sheridan), the anger of the person who expected her to be a dutiful Penelope, and most especially the nature of gossip when such things occur: Eve Arden is splendid as the leader of a fancy gang of cats, who regularly shuck their own husbands (courtesy of protagonist Ayres, a lawyer) and click their tongues at Sheridan.The strange thing is that, though the sets are attractive, the crowd scenes plausible and well shot on Southern California streets, two of the stars and maybe more look worn out and bedraggled: Sheridan, though a sympathetic character, wears unflattering makeup that gives her a harsh look and Ayres looks puffy and tired.This is a variation on the far better known "The Letter," a movie I respect for its craft but that I have never cared for. "The Unfaithful" is a more fully realized entertainment, though perhaps less elegant and stylized than its predecessor "The Letter."