HAVING SEEN THIS half-hour Hitchcock in its broadcast TV premier, we must say that it certainly did live up to everything that our memory had stored about it. We just viewed it today,. having recorded it off of the Antenna TV Channel. Our initial contact was some 59 years ago with that first showing.
WE REALLY DON'T know what else to say, without getting into too much of the story. We shouldn't wish to introduce any sort of "spoiler"; whether or not that we included the checking bf the box. Suffice it to say that this little gem of a Mystery/Shocker/Noir would be well used as a study for any film students, regardless of at what level they were.
MAYBE IT IS in the method used of putting it all together is what is at the heart of the production. Thus, such disparate elements as the mulling over of the now deceased woman's effects, the flashback narrative, her very lonely existence and finally the discovery of the ventriloquist in the English Music Hall, all make the story a case where the sum is far more than the total of he parts.
EVEN THOUGH THIS is only a half-hour, the assembled cast is both extensive and outstandingly well cast. We have Jessica Tandy (Julia Lester) and Tom Conway (Max Collodi) in the main roles. They are supported by Rosemary Harris, William Shatner, Patricia Hitchcock, Arthur Gould-Porter, Billy Barty, Nelson Welch, Colin Campbell and Paul Playton.
AND IN THE psychological analysis department, we offer the following: The story involves a stage ventriloquist. Ventriloquism is a form of puppetry. Therefore, the name of the ventriloquist is "Max Collodi." Is it just a coincidence or intended that it was Italian writer, Carlo Collodi, who wrote THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCHIO (1883)?