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The Unknown Guest (1943 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Unknown Guest' is a 1943 American mystery film released by King Brothers Productions. It was written by Philip Yordan, directed by Kurt Neumann and stars Victor Jory, Pamela Blake and Veda Ann Borg.
Cast
* Victor Jory as Charles "Chuck" Williams
* Pamela Blake as Julie
* Veda Ann Borg as Helen Walker
* Harry Hayden as George Nadroy
* Paul Fix as Fain
* Emory Parnell as Sheriff Dave Larsen
* Ray Walker as Swarthy
* Lee 'Lasses' White as Joe Williams
* Nora Cecil as Martha Williams
* Eddie Mills as Sidney
Production
Philip Yordan had written a script for brothers Charles and Maurice King titled 'Dillinger', but the Kings suggested that Yordan write something less expensive to produce.[http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7m0&chunk.id=d0e17295&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e17295&brand=ucpress McGilligan, Patrick. Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1991. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0z09n7m0/] Yordan took a course in budgeting from production manager George Moskov. Yordan later recalled:
Moskovs advice was to avoid a gangster film. Action and gunfire was costly. He suggested a suspense melodrama with one set. I dreamed up an imitation Hitchcock idea, all taking place in a roadhouse closed for the winter. Frank King liked the script, especially the low cost with very few extras. He couldnt pay more than the minimum and had to cajole and flatter the actors to get them. The brothers managed to get Victor Jory and Pamela Drake for almost nothing.http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/PhilipYordan.pdf
Reception
The film was the first from Monogram to screen at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
References
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