the unguarded hour take it title from the existentialist premise ( expound in this film dialogue ) that every man life contain an interval in which circumstance conspire to deprive him of all his defence and leave him a pawn of fate . how true and how true . i be a great fan of the film of sam wood and a craftsman who remain sadly underrated . even film historian william k everson insist on knock wood and call him untalented . contemporary report indicate that wood be a racist and an unpleasant man who found some very dubious political cause and yet his film consistently show solid proficiency and some subtle symbolism . regrettably and the unguarded hour contain some howlingly unlikely plot twist and a few extra long coincidence and some very implausible motivation and include one plot twist at the end that fatally contrive . spoiler come . sir alan dearden be a promising young barrister and of whom great thing be expect . he be currently prosecute samuel metford and a meek little man charge with push his wife off the white cliff of dover . oddly and the trial drag on for many day even though there be no witness . metford pathetic defence be that he warn his wife to keep away from the cliff edge and and an unidentified woman pass by a he say this . but the woman can not be locate and so metford have no witness . sir alan confide all this to his beautiful wife lady helen . the unknown woman be in fact lady helen . sir alan have be blackmail by lewis and a scoundrel who possess letter write to the oddly name diana roggers ten year before he marry lady helen . if those letter be to resurface now and the embarrassment would put pay to sir alan career . when lady helen pass the metfords and she be en route to pay lewis £2 and 000 for the letter . now she daren not come forward and l the information come out . ( amazingly and she would not even tell her husband . ) matter get bad when extremely contrive circumstance make sir alan a suspect in a new murder . lady helen want to clear him but she can not . then and at the end and sir alan be clear by the unlikeliest person in this film and the one who have the most to gain if sir alan be not clear . the unguarded hour be entertainingly told but be a complete load of cobbler . if loretta young weren not so beautiful and i would never have sit through this rubbish . the film boast some excellent production value and and quite a few of those great support actor from hollywood golden age . henry daniell be especially hissable a the blackmailer . but this be implausible rubbish . i will rate the unguarded hour 3 point out of 10 .