Film

The Unwritten Code

Name: The Unwritten Code
Director: Herman Rotsten
Released: 1944
Rating: 5
Cast: Ann Savage, Tom Neal, Roland Varno, Howard Freeman, Mary Currier

1944 · 61 min · ★ 5 · Dir. Herman Rotsten

UNMASKING THE PLOT OF THE YEAR!

The Unwritten Code is an offbeat, better-than-average Columbia wartime "B" picture. Though Ann Savage and Tom Neal are top-billed, the central character is supporting-actor Roland Varno. He plays a Nazi spy who sneaks into the U.S., hoping to release hundreds of German prisoners. He fails, but not until plenty of bullets have been spent. The most interesting aspect of The Unwritten Code is the casting of Savage and Neal as the "good" characters: in 1945, these two cult favorites would play the decidedly unsavory protagonists of the film noir classic Detour.