The Unknown (1946 film)

The Unknown is a 1946 American mystery film directed by Henry Levin made by Columbia Pictures as the third and final part of its I Love a Mystery series based on the popular radio program.^[1] The previous films were I Love a Mystery (1945) and The Devil's Mask (1946).^[2]

The Unknown
Directed by	Henry Levin
Written by	Carlton E. Morse Charles O'Neal Dwight V. Babcock
Based on	radio play Faith, Hope and Charity Sisters by Malcolm Stuart Boylan and Julian Harmon
Produced by	Wallace MacDonald
Starring	Karen Morley Jim Bannon Jeff Donnell
Narrated by	Frank Martin
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Edited by	Art Seid (as Arthur Seid)
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 4, 1946 (1946-07-04)
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The film is a loose adaptation of the I Love a Mystery radio episode Faith, Hope, and Charity, Sisters,^[3] which was remade in a later version of the radio series, in '49, as The Thing That Cries in the Night, starring Russell Thorson, Jim Boles, and Tony Randall as the private detectives, and Mercedes MacCambridge as the stewardess and Cherry (Charity).

It is also known as The Coffin.^[4]

Plot

Cast

• Rachel Martin Arnold – Karen Morley
• Jack Packard – Jim Bannon
• Nina Arnold – Jeff Donnell
• Reed Cawthorne – Mark Roberts
• Richard Arnold – Robert Wilcox
• Doc Long – Barton Yarborough
• Edward Martin – James Bell
• Ralph Martin – Wilton Graff
• Phoebe Martin – Helen Freeman
• Joshua - J. Louis Johnson

Critical reception

TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars, describing it as "filled with all the things that are guaranteed to make audiences jump out of their seats, such as hidden passageways, a hooded grave robber, eerie shadows, and mysterious killings".^[5]