telegonus Reviews

Mannix: The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress (1973) Season 7, Episode 1

Difficult To Guess

[9/10 · 13 January 2022]

It's difficult to guess just how this intricately plotted episode of Mannix is going to end. The Girl In The Polka Dot Dress is a title worthy of Wallace Stevens, and like a Stevens poem. It goes this way and that; and it doesn't give its game away.

There's a matter of fact suggestion of the paranormal, as a man claiming to be able a see into the future figures prominently in the story. This self-proclaimed psychic, well played by veteran actor Alfred Ryder, does indeed guess right the first time, and the Polka Dot girl does survive an attempt to murder her.

There are more murders to come in this episode, and a nice balance of dark city streets and California sunshine that was the Mannix style, and common in detective shows of the 70s ; howeve, this one did it the best of all.

The show's plot is like a cat's cradle of conspiracies. There's an intelligent, albeit unappetizing, sophistication regarding the reality of Evil in this tale. The Big Bad Guys "of the moment", as it were, do get taken down.

Nor is there any ambiguity in this episode, or in Mannix in general, that there are many more like them, just as diabolical, and equally clever, just around the corner.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Gentleman from America (1956) Season 1, Episode 31

Don't Bet On Ghosts

[8/10 · 28 July 2021]

This first season Hitchcock half-hour is fairly typical of the earlier episodes of this long running suspense series, as to its cast, ambiance and darker than usual tone of the story it tells. It starts out as a seemingly light tory about an American abroad, a young man, not terribly intelligent, though wealthy all the same (typical Hitch take on Yanks) who has been gambling up a storm in the England of 1940, when the world war was still "phoney", to the English speaking world anyway. Two English gentlemen of medium sophistication, and low on funds, propose a wager to the young man that he cannot spend a night in a bedroom of Hurstwood manor. He is told that he must remain in the room overnight, and is given only a candle, one match, a pistol and, if he pleases, a book that tells the "terrible story" that caused the manor to become haunted. If the Yank stays in the room all night he will win a thousand pounds. Unwisely, the American takes the wager, then proceeds upstairs with surprisingly little fuss or bother.

There is also a bit of information mentioned earlier about a nearby lunatic asylum, and I don't see this as a spoiler, as, while there is some foreshadowing of what shall happen later on in the tale, it's near impossible for a first time viewer to guess the signifacence of it. The prospect, in this story, of gambling, an early wartime setting, a young American abroad, and out of his element, a ghost, and madness, is a tantalizing one even as the first half of the episode is otherwise somewhat prosaic and unremarkable. Things turn, literally, darker, in the second half, yet there's also some confusion for even a seasoned Hitchcock show viewer, as the "set-up", or introduction (as it were) is quite complicated as to the terms of the wager, and how or whether a ghost would react to being shot at. Nor is it made wholly clear who is going to be staying in this large manor house to ensure that the American will stick to his part of the bargain, and if he doesn't, how they can know. The episode pays off in the end, though it could have been a whole lot better with some different players and a better script. Michael Arlen's short story was a good one, yet the epsode, while above average in most respects, feels a bit second tier for this particular television series.

The Twilight Zone: Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (1961) Season 2, Episode 28

The Mystery Of Tracy's Pond

[10/10 · 23 July 2021]

For those who prefer their Twilight Zones light and lively, this is a good one for you. Maybe even a great one. The thrills, chills and laughs seldom let up. It's set set in a remote corner of upstate New York at about the time the story takes place (circa 1961). Two state troopers investigate what may be a sighting of an unidentified flying object in the vicinity of Tracy's Pond, a small body of water that appears to be forzen over, and a short walk up a small hill to a roadside cafe. A bus is stuck in the ice nearby, and it appears that several of its passengers are enjoying a little R & R in a small diner not too far up the hill. The troopers investigate.

A small group of people, all (or are they?) stranded passengers from the bus are sitting around snacking, drinking cups of coffee and waiting for word when the roads and, especially a bridge, are safe for travel in such inclement weather, as the snow is still falling, and there's scarcely anyplace nearby to walk to. It's a motley crew the officers encounter, including a knowing, street smart bus driver, a young couple who may or may not be of legal age to marry; a knee slapping joker of an old man, fond of making wisecracks, who appears to have a background in carnivals or some kind of show business, or else is an escapee from a lunatic asylum, who, though he appears harmless enough, his aggression can at times be startling, and he's fond of interrupting the other customers at odd times. There's also very attractive dancer, apparently in need of more and better work; then there's an impatient businessman from Boston, and he's in a hurry to get back home for some urgent business; then there's a bickering middle-aged couple whose marriage has seen better days

Also on hand is an easygoing, affable counterman who appears to have been keeping tabs on all events occuring in the diner ever since he arrived there, late in the morning. There's some personal conflict that arises among various people in the diner, including the couples; and the troopers do their best to calm them down when strange things happen, such when the jukebox starts playing for no reason; or the electicity (and all the lights) suddenly flicker, go on and off for brief periods. Then there's the phone that rings, yet there never seems anyone at the other end of the line. Evenetually, as the story unfolds, at a steady pace, the policemen get some news over the phone that the bridge has been fixed and the roads are, presumably, safe to drive on. The bus driver doesn't like this news, as he's convinced it's not safe to be driving in the country in this weather; and he especially doesn't believe the bridge is safe.

For all this, he gets his driving orders from his higher ups, the diner customers become his passengers once more, and they pay for their food and drink, and exit the diner. Also leaving are the state troppers themselves, as they're all headed in roughly the same direction. For a brief while the diner is empty; empty, that is, till we see someone walking through the snow, approach the diner, then enter. There's no point in spoiling the soon to be cloing moments of the episode, near impossible to have guessed from what had transpired earlier. This is a tale full of drama, humor and suspense. The (so-called) payoff, while satisfying in itself, is in fact not half as good as how it was built up to, via a kind of ironic hocus pocus inherent in the narrative itself, and with superb, albeit spare production values. This episode is good, clean fun, with no message to speak of. It's a lively little visit to the Twilight Zone in wintertime.

Mannix: A Word Called Courage (1975) Season 8, Episode 13

Psycho Episode

[8/10 · 5 June 2021]

A Word Called Courage isn't the best plotted of Mannix episodes, yet it has some outstanding features, including an excellent guest cast, good, often quirky acting, and a story with more twists and turns than a roller-coaster. It also has some unsettling scenes of torture, and some bad guys who seem to have more than a few screws loose.

The plot is difficult to accept on face value, as the villains and their underlings behave puzzlingly, and the information they are seeking from Mannix is not even made wholly clear to the viewer. A good deal of the information crucial to understanding the plot points,--one person's name--is difficult to wholly comprehend. I freely admit that I never quite "got it".

Yet this series entry is engaging, even as the character motivations are murky for even a veteran detective series viewer such as myself to get a handle on; and yet for all that, it's competently made and held my interest, if only to see how things were going to work out, and by what means Joe was going to not so much solve a mystery but escape his captors in reasonably good physical and mental health. It's not much of a spoiler to say he did.

Mannix: To Kill a Memory (1972) Season 6, Episode 7

Twists & Turns

[8/10 · 23 March 2021]

To Kill A Memory is a Mannix show from roughly its mid-way point in its eight year run on the network. The controversy over the Vietnam war was cooling down somewhat; there were fewer student protests; and long haired young men were't harrased so much by middle aged adults in most parts of the country. The times were a' changin' in 1972, not maybe Bob Dylan's way, but they were.

This episode deals with (as they used to say) relevant issues, but it offers no point of view of its own regarding the mental states of soldiers returning home from in Vietnam, especially those who'd seen combat. There's one at the center of this story, and he's enigmatic in his early scenes, doesn't recognizes many people who were close to him when he was younger, is a puzzle to his family, goes by a name different from the one how was born with; and he suffers from amnesia and flashbacks to his fighting days in Southeast Asia. In other words, he's in trouble.

As the story unfolds, there's way more than meets the eye to this traumatized individual, as his tale is told Impressionistically, in twists and turns, We learn about this young man, Alex, in a typically TV series style; while Aex learned about the previous four years of his life in twists and turns, He also learns a few things about what happened during his years abroad from some unsavory characters who are drawing him into a life of crime, and this is where Joe Mannix and his detective skills come into play.

It's good to mention here that Mannix was hired by Alex's family after learning that he was still alive, as they were unsure of his whereabouts given that he was officially reported as dead. This helps makes this somewhat confusing episode and what happens in it a genuine mystery story rather than a more crime focused one, although indeed a major crime is committed, so it plays fair with the viewer at both ends. To Kill A Memory is one of the more dramatic entries of the series, and the excellent cast of skilled players were up to their jobs. From my end of the spectrum, the ending feels a bit bland for such a heavy hitting (in all respects) slice of prime time from a half century ago, Some solid workmanship went into it, and in that, and in so many other respects, it's a winner.

Mannix: Babe in the Woods (1972) Season 5, Episode 16

Good Storytelling

[7/10 · 2 March 2021]

There's a good story in this 1972 Mannix episode. Babe In The Woods starts with a sniper watching a golf game from afar--with a rifle!--dude obviously has agenda. Any veteran watcher of TV detective series cam guess the likely outcome. Yes, he shoots one of the golfers, then departs. The shooter is at a distance that no one notices him;and he exits soon after.

The surviving golfer was well acquainted with murder victim, and was having money troubles with him, although his business dealings with him were legitimate enough, and by today's standards prophetic, as the man who was killed was working on plans for producing small, portable computers (near futuristic sci-fi for when the show aired, in 1972, sufficiently commonplace today to not raise the eyebrow of a five year old).

Joe Mannix comes into play as much as to find the plans that the dead man had in his possession as to find his killer. In this, the story, which becomes stories as the episode moves along, is interesting, as the various strands in the mystery comes together piece by pieces rather than all at once, and it's sometimes difficult for s more "linear minded" viewer (me, for instance) to keep track of the plot threads.

There are a lot of outdoor scenes in this one; and lots of chases; in cars and on foot. It's often difficult to determine what many supporting characters are up to; such as whether they're good guys (or gals) or bad ones. There's a lot to follow here, including corporate intrigue, the mysteries, two, really, not one, and more action than usual for a Mannix.

Overall, there's a well above average story in this series entry, which, if I have a problem with it, is that it's somewhat weak on character development, and in relationships generally. Joe Mannix is pretty much on his own in this one, which moves at a fast pace, and delivers the goods in the thrills and chills department. As to the reason for the title of the episode, well, there is a babe in the woods in it, of the adult female variety; and she's easy on the eyes if not absolutely necessary for understanding what's going on.

Highway Patrol: Dead Hunter (1957) Season 3, Episode 10

Decent Entry

[7/10 · 1 March 2021]

Dead Hunter is a decent, albeit modest entry of the popular, vintage semi-documentary TV police series Highway Patrol. An elderly businessman is visited by an apparent friend with whom he has had financial dealings, and who has just cheated him in a bogus investment venture. The older man rightly sizes up his friend and breaks off all connections with him, business and personal.

The younger man leaves his now ex-business partner's rustic home, drives off, then quickly comes up with a scheme to salvage at least the generous inheritance he had been just been informed by the old man was in his will, which he was now planning to cut him out of altogether. A quick thinker, the soon to be perp schemes to kill his friend with a rifle by shooting him in the back.

When the deed is done, the killer soon calls the Highway Patrol to report his murder as a hunting accident. His early dealings with detective, Dan Mathews, go well enough, but then things begin to turn against him, due mostly to poor planning on the perp's part.

The story he told the police had a few holes in it, and as the killer was apparently not an experienced criminal he soon began behaving badly; and in short time the highway police had guessed, rightly, what he was up to and where to look for him.

While the killer in this episode is not, to say the least, a sympathetic character, the actor who portrays him, Joe Haworth, gives a realistic performance of a flawed and not truly evil man who got into crime way over his head; and what skills and guile he might have possessed in the business world were not up to what was required of him to literally get away with murder. In the second half of the story I found myself feeling sorry for him.

The Twilight Zone: The Brain Center at Whipple's (1964) Season 5, Episode 33

Some Good Ideas, Sharp Writing & Acting,Mediocre Effort

[5/10 · 14 January 2021]

The Brain Center At Whipple's is a late entry in the long running Twilight Zone television series, which was a sometime science fiction anthology, yet which also dealt with many social issues of its time. Whipple is one of its most humanistic, least "fantastic" offering; also one of its more prescient ones.

This episode deals with the corporate intrigue and conflicts inside the large Whipple manufactacturing firm brought about by the company's president's plans for a massive, as we like to call it, downsizing, due to changes in tasks that employed people being shifted to machines, primarily computers, which cost far less, scarcely any, actually, in real human labor.

Company president Wallace Whipple is a man who himself thinks like a machine and who lacks empathy for other human beings. He doesn't seem to care in the least as to the grief that the restructuring of his company will cause longtime employees. Indeed, he rejoices in all the millions of dollars his company will save, and what concerns he has for others appears limited to shareholders.

This might have been a good to excellent Zone entry if it had been better conceived and executed. Rod Serling, Twilight Zone's creator, host and frequent author of many of its episodes, wrote this one, and while it has much heart, maybe too much, in many stretches in the story, Mr. Whipple is way to easy to despise character. He's a heartless, one dimensional figure, while his employees are more complex, caring individuals.

There are lot of "speeches" in the episode. which is to say lengthy stretches of dialogue in which a character states his values, concerns or ambitions to another without interruption. A lot of what gets said is "old news" by 21st century standards, albeit still relevant. There is much conflict, and I suppose drama of a kind, yet little in the way of fundamental change in the characters.

One of the biggest downsides of Whipple is the character of Whipple himself, his rigid mindset and, worst of all, the performance of capable comedic actor Richard Deacon himself. He's never convincing as a man who has ever worked in the real world. Worse, Deacon plays so broadly as to emphasize his own comedy background rather than interpret his character.

He plays his part as a pompous ass; a caricature; a near cartoon character. In bold contrast the men who play his senior employees, deliver memorable, superb, deeply felt performances. Their names are worth mentioning: Paul Newlan and Ted De Corsia, and they both deserved awards for their work. For all that' s wrong in the show it's s watchable piece, and a missed opportunity for author Rod Serling to have knocked one out of the ballpark in one of the last episodes of his best remembered series.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Belfry (1956) Season 1, Episode 33

A View From The Belfry

[8/10 · 6 September 2019]

The Belfry is a typically way above average Hitchcock Presents episode. It isn't much like any other I can think of offhand and yet it has many excellent touches that made the Hitchcock series such compelling viewing in its day; and for those who don't mind slower paced (than today, I mean) black and white television, it holds up very well. This one's set in what appears to be early 20th century America, the rural Midwest or border South, where people still traveled in buggies and rode horses, and most small town folk still didn't have electricity, much less a telephone. Life might have seemed simpler then to those of us of more of than a century later, yet as this episode shows us, disturbed, impaired individuals can and could always be found anywhere, even in outwardly idyllic communities; as could people afflicted with dangerous pathologies.

Simpleton Clint Ringle is the main character in the story, and he's building what he hopes will be a dream house for the woman he is in love with, a schoolteacher named Ellie Marsh, whom he's planning to wed in the near future. Alas for Clint, Ellie already has a suitor whom she is planning to marry. Clint, wholly unaware of this, is shocked when Ellie turns him down one afternoon, after which Ellie is herself even more deeply shocked when she sees Clint kills the man she really loves with a hatchet right in front of her, outside the one room schoolhouse where she teaches. As becomes immediately clear to Clint his act was witnessed by some children playing outdoors nearby, thus even if his beloved kept this a secret his murder shall soon be known throughout the community.

Yet Clint clearly at the very least has an innate shrewdness all the same. What he lacks in cleverness and insight he makes up for at least somewhat in sheer animal cunning. Before long, as he has discovered that the house he was building for his beloved has been soaked in a downpour he returns to the schoolhouse and hides in its belfry. He remains there, for the most part, for the remainder of the episode. It's his only safe hiding place, and yet as the viewer can see even as Clint cannot, it's good only for the short term. It's clear to the viewer that the noose is being tightened around Clint's neck even as his whereabouts are not known. He cannot remain in hiding for long, as becomes evident when what had been his safe haven turns into a hell when someone tolls the school bell.

This is a fine episode for some, albeit not for all tastes. It has no real villain and no real hero. Clint is as blameless as he is clueless. One pities rather than hates him. He is in his way as much a victim as the man he killed. I sensed while watching it that the writer (or writers) went out of their way to make none of the characters in the story either especially likable or loathsome. One can respect the normal people of this rural community, and yet it's difficult, in our time, to identify with them. One cannot help but feel that these people behave as well as can be expected given the circumstances, the time in which the story is set, their lack of much in the way of education, in our modern sense. The ending was, for me, rather a shocker in the way it was handled. I don't see this as giving too much away or spoiling anything for prospective viewers.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Fanciful Frail (1966) Season 9, Episode 24

Fanciful Episode

[9/10 · 6 September 2019]

I found this one a fun and fanciful late entry of the very long running Perry Mason series, and highly entertaining. It's a tale of murder, identity swapping and corporate intrigue. For much of its length I found myself smiling and occasionally laughing at the near surreal events it depicted.

It seems that the powers that be at Paisano Productions, which produced the series, allowed the stories and the characters depicted therein get more than a bit offbeat, at times downright odd as the show drew to a close in its final season. This one's better than most, and nicely acted by a fine guest cast.

I highly recommend this episode for fans of the series who possess a sense of humor. No, it's not a comedy or a send-up; more like everyone having some good clean fun, all the while keeping straight faces while doing so.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Silk Petticoat (1962) Season 7, Episode 13

Grisly Story, Genteel Presentation

[10/10 · 4 March 2019]

This Hitchcock story, The Silk Petticoat, offers the viewer an intelligent set-up for a mystery that it takes the entire length of the episode to resolve; and the payoff, such as it can be called, is one of the most unexpected and shocking of the entire series even as,--and I suppose this is a spoiler of sorts--there is no actual gore.

On the surface the story is a kind of awkward romance set in pre-Victorian early 19th century England. with handsome, middle aged Michael Rennie seeking the lovely and much younger Antionette Bower's hand in marriage. One can sense a dark side to Rennie's character quite early on; and yet there's no reason for the viewer to see him as any more than a somewhat more formal, lighter seeming hero of the sort familiar to readers of Gothic romance novels.

Yet as the plot thickens, and we learn of the tragic loss of his first wife, many years earlier, and of the odd secrets Rennie seems intent on keeping to himself. He reveals aspects of himself that are morbid and unpleasant even as his actual behavior remains that of (literally) a gentleman and a scholar.

These contrasts in Rennie's character. between the perfect gentleman and the man with many secrets, suggest that he is not only not the sort of man he appears to be but that he holds the dark undercurrents in his soul in check, and that in the long run he shall be consumed by them. There's some strong stuff in this episode. It is not for the faint of heart.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Jury of Her Peers (1961) Season 7, Episode 12

When Ladies Meet

[8/10 · 4 March 2019]

A Jury Of Her Peers is a first rate Hitchcock entry, adapted from a story by Susan Glaspell, it's a murder mystery that gets solved by the efforts of the women townfolk who live not too far from the farm where the widow of a murdered farmer is found, near catatonic, with the body of her husband still upstairs.

The tale itself reveals the working of the minds of a handful of member of a small, isolated rural community of the sort that scarcely exists today in 21st century America. A Jury Of Her Peers is now a period piece, though when first broadcast it must have felt closer to home for many viewers.

In this, the talk is the story. We hear it told, from different perspectives; and the familiarity of the neighbors of the middle aged, childless widow with her and her husband is the key to understanding what likely happened. Fine acting all-round by the mostly female cast, headed by early talkie leading lady and, for a short while, superstar, Ann Harding, aged, yet still radiantly beautiful.

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Heads Up

[7/10 · 24 February 2019]

The good news about this lurid horror is that William Castle directed it competently and got good performances from his cast. Joan Crawford stars as a woman newly released from an insane asylum for the beheading of her cheating husband and some floozie he was getting in on with some twenty years earlier.

The surreal, psychotronic opening credits help set the tone for this one; and what follows nicely lives up to the hype. One has to have a taste for horror and a fondness for old movies to get into the swing of this black and white chiller. By today's standards it's tame; aside from its subject matter, that is. There are a few surprises, and few real shocks, either; and aside from the unsettling prospect of someone swinging an axe not much to be horrified by.

What makes Strait-Jacket work as well as it does is that director Castle & Friends know their onions about film-making, horror and how to maintain the viewer's attention. Suspension of disbelief is really not necessary when watching the movie. It's a showcase for aging superstar Crawford, and she's more than up to the job. Her performance is rather a poignant one, and her screen presence alone elevates the film in quality.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Malicious Mariner (1961) Season 5, Episode 4

The Ancient Mariner

[8/10 · 20 February 2019]

No, this Perry Mason does not channel the famous Coleridge poem, however it concerns the aging captain of freighter that nearly sinks at sea during a storm en route from Japan to to California; and once safely in port things appear amiss amiss on this troubled ship; and its master is none too happy about the way his first mate took control of his boat from him. The younger man saved the ship, but where's the cargo?

This is a Perry whose plot is so convoluted as to cause he heads of all but the most experienced Perry savvy viewers heads to spin. The story is well told, and most of the non-regular characters come off as either suspicious or a bit shady. The plot is good example of the Something's Wrong With This Picture that's at the core of its story. What makes the episode one of the better in the series is how obvious it was that the police were barking up the wrong tree.

This isn't a brilliant episode, yet it was handled expertly by its cast and crew. There are a couple of red herrings, and lots of possibilities put forth as Perp Of The Week

Peter Gunn: Lady Windbell's Fan (1959) Season 1, Episode 33

Fan Dance

[9/10 · 18 February 2019]

Lady Windbell's Fan is one of my favorite Peter Gunn episodes. Its west coast urban ambiance, mixing a beatnick sensibility with an exotic, or rather exotic at the time, Chinatown locale makes it a joy to watch for its clever use of back lot sets dressed up as the mostly deserted streets of late night L.A., and an engaging story about a shopkeeper's murder for a fan and the reason for it.

The murder occurs quite early in the episode, and it's a painful to watch. Once Peter is on the case, working for youthful restaurant owner and Chinatown mover and shaker Johnny Chang, as the plot thickens. Johnny's a friend of Peter's, and there's back story to spare when Johnny's ancient father enters the picture when Peter's taken to pay a visit to him under unusual circumstances.

There's a fair amount of lying, posing and perfidy going on; and the characters are offbeat and mysterious even even for a Peter Gunn episode. Also exceptional is the use of back story for exposition, which is to say learning about the pasts of the some of the characters, which explains their motivations. The way the elder Chang is presented is suggestive of a Fu-Manchu movie of an earlier time that may offend (or amuse) certain viewers.

I found the use of stereotyped characters, rituals and customs handled with just the right amount of humor and sophistication to make what otherwise might have seemed a slight tale a fascinating and hugely entertaining one, as much for the stylish way it was told as for the tale itself. The cast is game, with a nicely poised James Hong handsome and solid as the younger Chang, Frances Fong lovely as his love interest and non-Asian Richard Hale spooky looking and acting as a concerned and loving father.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Cell 227 (1960) Season 5, Episode 34

Well Made

[7/10 · 7 February 2019]

Cell 227 is a well made Hitchcock entry, and while above average I don't rate it as one of the series best. It's a good story even as one can see the ending coming in the first five minutes. Brian Keith plays a college professor, Herbert Morrison, who's on death row, having been convicted of murder he did not commit.

Morrison's back story is vague, as the viewer gets to know little about him aside from his bitter rage against a system that has failed him. The man's integrity means more to him than his life; and he refuses to beg for mercy. For all this, Morrison comes across as more petty and mean spirited than dignified, and the show's final minutes bear this out.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: O Youth and Beauty! (1960) Season 6, Episode 8

Middle Age Blues

[9/10 · 7 February 2019]

O Youth and Beauty! is a well made, rather downbeat episode of Hitchcock's half-hour, and it concerns an aging and yet certainly not over the hill (except in his own nightmares) man who seeks to prove that he still" has it" by hurdling at the local country club. He does it well enough at first, and this still doesn't please him.

The man's first name, Cash, says it all, as money is what he is short of most. He makes about a third of what he thinks he's worth, and he feels like low man on the totem poll at his club. So far as the viewer can tell Cash is a reasonably well off white collar professional. He has a hard time paying his bills, but then many if not most middle class people do.

One can't but sense that Cash is living beyond his means, that maybe he belongs to the wrong club. He doesn't seem too out of place there, but he feels it, and this motivates him to relive the vigor of youth by (literally) acting out the glory days as a runner indoors, by leaping over furniture and the like; and the second time around he pays a high price.

Well made as it is this adaptation of a John Cheever story is as shallow as it's nicely put together. Gary Merrill's performance in the lead got my sympathy from the start, and held it to the final scene. I've always found Merrill a likable, intelligent actor. He has a way of delivering his lines naturally; and his talent was such that he could make such an obnoxious character as Cash both compelling and tragic

The Werewolf (1956)

A Classy Change Of Pace

[9/10 · 27 January 2019]

The 1956 The Werewolf is not, despite its title, a horror film. Or not primarily anyway. It's got science fiction elements (nothing supernatural here); and its western setting makes it feel like a contemporary western. Also worth mentioning is that the fate of the central character is deeply tragic; all the more so for being brought upon by forces outside himself, which he cannot control.

As with two earlier, better known werewolf pictures, the 1935 Werewolf Of London and The Wolf Man, made five years afterwards, the man who turns into a wolf is a decent human being who must cope with a terrible predicament for which he is not responsible. In The Werewolf the main character is a hunted man fairly early on; and the nature of his monstrous transformations is such as to make seeking help from others not a wise course of action.

What makes this film so excellent is the wondrous serendipity of old Hollywood: good actors, a decent script and first rate, albeit spartan production values. This is a dark, shadowy film, and yet much if not most of it takes places outdoors, in the mountains of California. That it was filmed on location makes it feel more real than most films with similar themes. Director Fred Sears makes the most of what he was given to work with.

This is a first rate movie; and, due to the care and talent that went into making it, a classy change of pace for those fond of old films and aren't bothered by the absence of color. The routine, by the numbers nature of its story line, plus the lack of much in the way of character development, keep it from becoming a true classic of its kind. Near the end, as the title character, in full monster mode, is trapped by hunters firing upon him from a bridge, the film becomes emotional, even moving.

The Twilight Zone: Uncle Simon (1963) Season 5, Episode 8

A Damsel In Extreme Distress

[7/10 · 22 January 2019]

This is one downer of a Twilight Tone, and like many of the show's half-hour entries, it begins in an closed environment suggestive of literal or. or likely, psychic entrapment from which there appears to be no escape, as is often suggested, early in such dramas, even as it becomes clear as the stories progressed that these "stuck people" have, deep inside, their key to freedom, to exit, from their dreadful plight.

In this one, borderline middle aged Barbara, well payed by Constance Ford, is at the mercy of her uncle Simon, ailing and rapidly in physical and mental decline; and he's a nasty, sadistic man who must prove himself superior to others,--hence his extreme physical and emotional isolation--and the woman who looks after him, tends to his daily needs.

There's a light at the tunnel for Barbara, who shall inherit her uncle's fortune when he passes on; and yet theere's the nagging issue of how long Barbara can bear her uncle's abuse. Simon is in poor health, thus he may not last long; and yet even the sickest among us have been known to surprise their families and caregivers. The dialogue in Uncle Simon is often witty in the Victorian fashion; and the old central house in which the story is set looks to be of the same vintage.

Part drama, part comedy, this episode is also a character study, and an insightful one at that, of how two "split off" (from the normal world", that is) people can live in a world of their own with scarcely any other people entering it except to serve their needs.

Even as Simon and Barbara share barbed insults one can't help but wonder what their lives would have been like without them. Simon and Barbara complement one another perfectly. Whatever the character flaws of these two trapped individuals may be on an individual basis, considered as a twosome they are bound to one another as Siamese twins. Thst neither uncle nor niece comes across as sympathetic in the end seems only fitting.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Right Price (1959) Season 4, Episode 22

The Better Offer

[9/10 · 4 January 2019]

The Right Price is an adaptation of a Henry Slesar story by the Hitchcock TV team, and while the pace is a tad slow, the characterizations superficial, it works as a light comedy tale that seems to borrow in unequal parts from the short tales of two very different and at the time popular American authors: Damon Runyon and John Cheever.

Set in the kind of upper middle class New York suburb that John Cheever made his literary home, so to speak, for decades, it with a begins as a presentation of a comically dysfunctional middle aged couple of the postwar era; a husband and wife business team who bicker constantly, and even sleep in separate beds (the norm for television couples of the time anyway).

When they finally get to the bedroom for an (apparently sexless, but no matter) good night's sleep, the husband is awakened by sounds downstairs, where he is confronted by a genial looking burglar who holds a gun on him and proceeds to have the man of the house find objects of value for him to abscond with. That there appears to be less real friction between the perp and his prey cleverly foreshadows what is to occur in the story's second half.

As it becomes increasingly clear that there's little of real value in this nicely furnished home; and after wifey's calling downstairs and wondering what was happening (the husband said it was the radio), the plot thickens: the husband now wants to hire the burglar to work for him, as he wants the man to commit that has probably been on his mind for some time: the murder of his bossy, shrewish wife.

As there was never any real edge to this episode, and the major players. Allyn Joslyn and, especially, Eddie Foy, Jr., were known for "light" roles in film, one could see the comedy coming early. Foy was particularly good as a surprisingly laid bad crook; while Joslyn came across as more put upon than frightened.

What transpires in the end is a nicely done twist which I think it's fair to say most viewer wouldn't have seen coming when the show was first broadcast. I certainly didn't. As the set up was vaguely comical, and that Eddie Foy, Jr. had an easygoing, friendly way about him,

As Joslyn, or rather his character, has a genteel, Cheeveresque disposition, Foy comes across as a character out of the Broadway musical Guys & Dolls. He never seems to take anything too seriously; and this includes murder. Neither actor, or rather the characters these men play, seems out of his league or way too off his turf, and this tips the perceptive off as to the ending, which I see no reason t give away.

The Right Price is good clean fun, and it's droll even for a Hitchcock show. Neither the dialogue nor the story suggest great talent at work. There's a familiar been there, done that tone throughout that implies that while there may be a lack of much original talent that went into this effort, what talent there was available was used wisely and well. Also, for all the doublecrossing and trickery on display in this episode, it feels benign, almost innocent more than a half-century after it was first shown.

Westbound (1958)

Lively Paced Western

[8/10 · 2 January 2019]

Westbound is a well above average entry in the canon of the now legendary team of director Budd Boetticher and veteran cowboy star Randolph Scott, already well into middle age when he began this collaboration. The story, set well into the latter half of the Civil War, is a convoluted one concerning gold shipments being diverted from Overland stagecoaches by Confederate sympathizers in what was then Colorado Territory.

The characters are better and more interesting than the story, as Scott's Union man character is willing to manipulate people to get his job done; and given the kinds of people he must contend with in the frontier town of Julesburg one can hardly blame him. Gentleman bad guy Andrew Duggan is a formidable opponent; while Duggan's chief henchman, as ably portrayed by Michael Pate, is way more ruthless than his boss.

Yet Scott's good guy has more than his share of tricks up his sleeve; and he also benefits from patience in his waiting for Duggan to make his move. Alas, things go badly when a stagecoach carrying gold as well as passengers is ambushed and during the attack is sent crashing down a steep hill, killing all aboard. The tide begins to turn after this, as Duggan's villainy is balanced somewhat by a moral conscience.

Drunk and filled with self-loathing for all the damage he's done, Duggan has a confrontation with his already fed up wife (and also ex-Scott galpal), and he undergoes a late in the game change of heart. The pace of this already lively sagebrush saga picks up as the citizen of the town Duggan lords over have begun to turn on him. One senses a mob mentality at work in Julesburg, with Confederate sympathizers at odds with those who support the Union.

The supporting characters are well drawn for this kind of film; and among the more sympathetic,--a wounded in battle and now one-armed Union veteran, his (bodacious) wife--things do not turn out as one might expect. There are unexpected deaths, a tense mood in this divided town, and while at the end good triumphs over evil, this comes at a high price.

Aided by a sprightly David Buttolph score and fine color photography by Peverell Marley, Westbound is a modest western that gets the job done and no doubt satisfied fans of the genre when it first came out some sixty years ago. Randolph Scott was a major star of westerns at this time, yet his age was showing and he would retire from acting for good a few years later. His performance in the film is solid, yet his screen persona was, overall, as unexciting as it was reliable.

The Wrong Man (1956)

Hard Luck Case

[7/10 · 30 December 2018]

This Alfred Hitchcock directed picture was based on the true story of something that went terribly wrong one night for a musician who worked in a swank and at the time very famous New York nightclub, and what happened to him one night when, on his way home from work, he was confronted by policeman in a car outside his home and was arrested on charges of armed robbery.

This musician, Manny Balestrero, was innocent of the crime of which he was accused; and from things the viewer gets to know about him he is a caring family man, imperfect in mostly small ways; a devoted husband and father; and overall an upstanding citizen. What follows Manny's arrest is essentially a ritual of dehumanization and humiliation, as Manny is prepared by the police to spend his time in jail as he await his trial.

What little good news that comes Manny's way is that he has acquired the services of a decent, sympathetic, competent lawyer who believes in his case, and who works hard for him. The downside during this period is the slow, tragic mental decline of Manny's wife, whose mind is slowly unraveling under the stress of her husband's predicament ; and it's easy for the viewer to see where she is headed from her increasingly strange and for her atypical behavior, as she becomes detached from reality and sinks into a deep depression.

The Wrong Man is a movie that feels like a short trip to hell. There's not a moment of joy in the entire film. There are, for sure, good people in the story, and yet they are, most of them, helpless in their attempts to help Manny, as the wheels of justice are as slow as they are heavy. Manny's ordeal is a long one; and what in the end saves him is nothing less than a miracle. A good Catholic, Manny prays to God for help; and his prayers are answered; after a fashion, that is.

However that may be, Manny's personal life is ruined. His wife is a mess. What fame and goodwill he received in the media vanished quickly. The story happened a long time ago. Manny was not going to appear in coast to coast talk shows. A movie, this one, would be made of his ordeal; but one cannot put a price tag on personal suffering Could any of the suffering he went through be made up for in some way? One senses not. Manny shall survive, shall continue to earn a living, but he shall not prosper. To put it in plain English: to be saved from a several years prison sentence and a felony conviction is not the same as "winning". Manny did not win his case so much as the state lost its case. Manny lost the night he was arrested.

There is no quick fix,--or for that matter even a slow one--for people who have suffered as Manny did. This is what the viewer of The Wrong Man learns about our criminal justice system and, more broadly speaking, our society. Manny was one of many people who are not perhaps blessed in life to any great extent, yet not cursed, either. They live in a kind of drab normality, occasionally interrupted by moments of joy and of love. After his arrest, Manny was too wounded to wholly recover, though he did live. His wife fell apart and never wholly recovered.

The Wrong Man is a true to life movie, and an exceedingly sad and depressing one. It's a downer from start to finish. Justice was served in the end; and yet two people's lives were ruined along the way. Where's the justice in that? There isn't any. The entire story of this film is that of a hard luck case. Manny was not a fortunate man to begin with, though he had some good things in life prior to his arrest. Afterward, he was still a hard luck case, only now he could walk the streets again as a free man; in theory anyway.

The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951)

Solid Effort

[8/10 · 30 December 2018]

For a modest western, The Redhead & The Cowboy manages to rise above its station (so to speak) and become something much better : part character study (and an excellent one at that), part mystery, it's maybe a bit too densely plotted for the kind of film it is, and yet it rises above its slightly sluggish pace, especially early on, and once its story gains a head of steam one wants very much to know what the late radio commentator Paul Harvey used to call "the rest of the story", which is to say the payoff.

Set in the Far West during the American Civil War, the film's story is indeed connected to that bloody conflict, mostly tangentially or inferentially; and yet it's there all the same, and all the time. One can never forget that there's a war "back east"; and the loyalties of the sympathies of many of the characters in the movie factor in its final outcome. Yet's easy for the viewer to forget such issues, and what drives the film. Gold figures into the narrative, as does, more prominently the guilt or innocence of its main character, well played by Glenn Ford.

As its story develops, the film begins to feel more like a western as it moves forward; as bit by bit there are more action scenes, more vistas; and also more twists and turns in the story itself. By its (roughly speaking) third and final act, while there are still unanswered questions, and some uncertainty as to who the good guy really is,--though casting helps in this--the movie is clearly heading toward what's starting to feel like a slam-bang ending. Western fans should be satisfied by the way the movie ends, even as the resolution is, alas, bittersweet.

Solid work all-round from director Leslie Fenton and such gifted players as not only Glenn Ford, Rhonda Fleming, Morris Ankrum, Alan Reed and, in a pivotal role, Edmond O'Brien, who's first rate and manages to stay very much in character for the entire length of the film. For me, his playing is smooth and low key for the kind of actor O'Brien was; and he gives the best and most memorable performance in the film.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Hands of Mr. Ottermole (1957) Season 2, Episode 32

More Offbeat Than Mysterious

[10/10 · 25 November 2018]

A solid, rather modest Hitchcock entry, The Hands Of Mr. Ottermole delivers the goods in its own solid way, rises to the occasion, of being an engrossing "Ripper tale" thanks to its slow, steady presentation and some first rate acting. Somehow, for all the pussyfooting around in the London fog, the ending manages to feel shocking. The Hitchcock crew knew how to make something out of what might have at first glance seemed like nothing. It's how the tale was told that makes this one work more than the tale itself.

The Twilight Zone: Third from the Sun (1960) Season 1, Episode 14

The Sun Also Rises

[8/10 · 10 October 2018]

Third From The Sun is a tense early entry in the at the time (1959) fledgling Twilight Zone series, and it's as good an example as any as to what made the show tick, why so many occasional viewers became regular ones, as it channels thoughts, feelings and behaviors that appear normal on the surface which the viewer soon learns is actually a subtext. pointing to larger themes of great significance; and what may well be the sooner than expected end of the world. The Twilight Zone may be, of the TV series of the Cold War era, the one that dealt most often with the prospect, fear and at times the consequences of nuclear mass destruction.

The plot is simple and melodramatic, as the story revolves around defense workers in what at the time must have felt like a foregone conclusion was postwar U.S.A. Indeed, the casting, the behavior of the people in the episode and how they handle the Cold War stress of what feels like impending nuclear holocaust was a worry on many people's minds back then. We feel this most strongly in the early scenes, and especially the build-up of tension when a man named Carling appears to be dropping in on the main character with alarming regularity, as if he knew what they were up to; and as a government security man he was determined to stop them. Or perhaps he was intending to join them in their planned escape from their doomed planet.

The the phones they use, the artwork on the walls, the odd, unfamiliar furniture, the interior decoration of the suburban home of the family the episode focuses on, these and other things suggest that the episode is set in an indeterminate future , likely not too far off in the future. Yet the nuclear family survives, as the main characters live as so many Americans did back sixty or more years ago, with dread, anxiety, an uncertainty regarding what the future holds. The threat of nuclear war was on the minds of many if not most Americans back then, and in this Third From The Sun is true to life.

How the story ends should be a big surprise for the first time viewer. It would be downright cruel to give it away. Although there are hints here and there as to what's rally happening in the episode, not much is made clear. It plays as a near fever dream, thus it has, by virtue of this, an internal logic; on the one hand earnest and concrete in presentation, and yet, on the other hand, intelligent and playful enough as to suggest that what's transpiring could well be the ravings of a lunatic locked away in an asylum. Or could it all be a shared collective nightmare of s group of Fifties era suburbanites on a warm summer night when things look and feel just a little bit too good to be true.