- Betty reads a story she wrote for school involving her family. In the story a devil named Harry Beal is trying to get the children's souls, Jim fights him and agrees his soul in exchange for his kids. But will the family let him sacrifice his soul?—Allen Blank
- This is a "Twilight Zone-ish" episode of "Father Knows Best" that guest-starred RAY MILLAND. Ray Milland repeated the role of Nick Beal that he had played in the 1949 movie "Alias Nick Beal". Daughter Betty (Elinor Donahue) is going through a phase where she believes selfishness is the sole motivator for all behavior. "WE only do good because it makes us feel good, superior to the people we're helping."she says. The mail runs. There's a letter saying that Jim Anderson (Robert Young) has won the Springfield"s Most Honest Man Award. Bud ( Billy Gray) wishes they had won a car. There's a knock at the door. It's a Mr. Nick Beal ( Ray Milland) with presents for the family of Springfield's Most Honest Man. Bud gets a new car. Sister Kathie ( Lauren Chapin) gets a pair of roller skates. Wife Margaret ( Jane Wyatt) gets membership in an exclusive Springfield Women's Club. They all leave to try out their new presents,leaving Betty & Jim alone with Mr. Beal. Mr. Beal produces a contract saying he wants to buy Jim's soul ! He hints that something bad might happen to the Andersons if Jim doesn't sign the contract ( Kathie might skate in front of Bud's new car!) Beal pricks Jim's finger & fills a fountain pen with blood . ( "Sorry. It's traditional, you know.") Jim signs the contract !! Then he places it within the family Bible. "Give me my contract." says Beal. "Here it is." says Jim , holding out the Bible. Beal lets it fall to the floor. "Give me my contract" Beal orders Betty. Jim picks up the Bible & uses it to drive Beal from the house. Then Betty wakes up ! It was all a dream ! The mail runs. Jim gets a letter saying he has won Springfield's Most Honest Man Award. There's a knock on the door-it's Ray Milland ! Betty slams the door in his face & tells her father she will explain. The last scene is of Mr. Beal standing beside the Anderson mailbox. He smiles a sinister smile. He pulls out a Springfield Address Book., he crosses the Andersons off his list & goes on to the next name on the list. IMdb mistakenly lists John Williams as the guest star of this episode . Williams co-starred with Milland in "Dial M for Murder" but it was definitely RAY MILLAND who guest-starred in this episode of "Father Knows Best". UPDATE:The Devil vs. the Anderson family... Author: lilszoo2011 from United States 10 June 2013 *** This review may contain spoilers ***
The Devil vs. the Anderson family... *** This review may contain spoilers *** This review is for a Father Knows Best episode that seems to be a point of contention concerning the film, "Alias Nick Beal" and needs clearing up, as follows... Real name: "Mr. Beal Meets his Match." This is a favorite episode that just aired yesterday (01/15//13) on AntennaTV. It is another of the morality tales that Father Knows Best is so famously known for, with the Andersons actually taking on the Devil and becoming triumphant by the end of the 30 minutes they had to deal with him! There seems to be some controversy on who played the Devil. It is listed here on IMDb as John Williams and NOT listed in Ray Millands' credits. It was listed on the TV credits after the show as being John Williams. It also was listed as being John Williams on the OFFICIAL Father Knows Best website in two places, as being him in the episode listing and in the pdf file that houses the 'actual' script synopsis written at the time with the players listed and all in the old typewriter type, the episode is #111 and is in the fourth season. It is mistakenly listed as being Ray Milland on the Wikipedia website, Mr. Milland did play a Devil's character named NICK Beal in a 1949 movie, "Alias Nick Beal" unconnected to FKB. But our character here is named HARRY Beal, so it is not Mr. Milland reprising his old movie roll as has been suggested on these threads. I'm sure anyone who loves FKB as I and many others do love to get their trivia facts straight as it might come in handy if we ever got on Jeopardy! Also the DVD's of FKB is out on Netflix for renting, they have seasons one thru four, the 4th season (the one we are discussing here) is out and is in my saved NetFlix queue. So any doubts can be erased when personally viewing this episode and seeing John Williams as the Devil. John Williams by the way, played Audrey Hepburns chauffeur father, Thomas Fairchild in 1954's "Sabrina" for anyone wanting to compare him against Harry Beal in FKB. (Interesting note that Mr. Williams and Mr. Milland played together in a fantastic film "Dial M for Murder".) Also you can rent FKB to watch online at Amazon. I haven't looked yet but there may even be some episodes on Hulu or YouTube that could satisfy anyone interested in getting facts earlier than the DVD release. Hope this helps! UPDATE: This episode will be airing again May 30, 2013 on AntennaTV at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. UPDATE: This episode aired today as had been previously noted and I watched it again, it IS John Williams who plays the Devil and it ends with him on a branch outside Jim and Margrets bedroom window and crashing to the ground when he realizes he has 'lost' because Margret will not let Jim go. I hope this correction has been helpful to those faithful to fact. LOL
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