User Reviews

This half hour playlet concerns Joanne Woodward who did a lot of television anthology series work before her big screen debut in Count Three And Pray. This item done for Four Star Playhouse and Woodward plays a plain Jane girl at a private school who is quite the wallflower. Her social development is of concern to schoolmistres Nana Bryant.

Bryant needn't be concerned. Woodward runs into newspaper writer Dick Powell on a dock and they have a common interest in sailing. From that a nice platonic friendship develops.

A nice Cinderella story with Woodward showing the acting chops that would earn her an Oscar in a few years time for Three Faces Of Eve..

This episode featured Dick Powell—one of the four stars anchoring the show. A young Joanne Woodward stars as a young lady who is about to graduate from college. However, during her time in school, she never seemed to fit in—as she's rather aloof and bookish. You learn later that much of this is due to her being so lonely, as her family has all but abandoned her. However, when she meets Powell, they strike up a nice friendship…and Woodward is head-over-heels in love.

This is the best episode of the show that I have so far seen. Some of it is because it's so very well written—almost like an entire movie crammed (very nicely) into 25 minutes. Most of the reason it worked so well is because of the acting. Powell is very good but Woodward really stands out. While at the time she was not a star, soon the quality of her acting would be apparent in films such as "The Three Faces of Eve"—for which she won an Oscar. This TV appearance is terrific and you can see that even before "Eve", she was an amazingly good actress. In fact, if you get a chance, try to find her in some of her 1950s TV appearances—she was always captivating and brilliant.

Joanne Woodward's loveliness and pitch-perfect acting are captured in this episode of Dick Powell's Four Star Playhouse. Dick plays her May/December first love (platonic) in this very simple but effective story.

Some 70 years later an audience would demand more from this 1/2 hour, but as an artifact it retains its initial charm. The script specifies about an age difference of 20 years, but Powell was 26 years older than the starlet, who's playing a teen on the eve of her high school (private boarding school) graduation.

She's neglected by her well-to-do family and the other girls, way too shy to fit in. They don't invite her to parties and the school mistress (nicely underplayed by Nana Bryant, late in her career) worries about her.

One night she's sitting alone on a pier reading poetry, when Dick Powell docks his boat and she lends him a hand. He's divorced and works as a foreign correspondent, traveling all over and also lonely. They hit it off and she falls for him, but Powell's only there temporarily and has to get on with his own globe-trotting commitments. He sadly misses her prom but shows up for her graduation ceremony.

As the title suggests, this represents a mere snippet in each of their lives. There's no real drama or plot turnaround, and never a suggestion of lust or taboo sex around the corner. More recently, such casting would be instantly suspect, but Joanne's acting makes it work here.

Absolutely engaging little character drama, whose two lead performers couldn't be better. Woodward's timid little wallflower, Vicki, made me want to reach through the screen and hug her. As a neglected upper-class school girl, her unmet emotional needs are almost heart-rending. Those early scenes of her isolation really set the stage for what follows. No wonder the actress went on to an Oscar-rated movie career.

Then, wandering down to the docks one lonely night from a dateless prom night, Vicki meets personable boat-owner Chris (Powell) and they soon share friendly talk over a common interest in boats. All in all, he's a sensitive and caring divorced man with needs of his own. Thus he quickly senses her needs, while she responds in kind, and soon they bond. Happily now, Vicki emerges from repressed wallflower into blossoming young woman. It's an odd but caring relationship, especially for the conventional 1950's.

But the question soon becomes what direction will the relationship eventually take. After all he's at least 20-years older than the emergent Vicki. Still, they soon dance closely together in almost romantic fashion; so what's the next step. Anyway, stay tuned, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I wasn't, especially since the upshot was unconventional for the time.

All in all, the entry remains an outstanding one for an outstanding series, so don't miss it.