"Decoy" The Phoner (TV Episode 1957) Poster

(TV Series)

(1957)

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6/10
The Phoner
Prismark1013 April 2021
Casey Jones investigates a creepy sex pest who is terrorising Betty Hodges with obscene phone calls.

Casey pretends to be Betty's sister in order to lure the pest out into the open. He seems to know a lot about Betty so he might be local and keeping tabs on her.

The episode had to skirt around the censorship rules of the time. There is a focus on the reaction of Betty who is a woman living alone and is a nervous wreck.

The reaction of the officers trying to trace the caller who are unhappy with the kind of language used.

Casey has been keeping company with Betty. After Betty is hospitalised it is Casey who is in danger but she is more than a match for the pest.

The story could have had a bit more mystery by not exposing the caller early on.
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If A Man Calls, Hang Up!
dougdoepke13 December 2018
Poignant episode. Poor pretty Betty has been getting obscene calls from same man. Living alone, she's becoming a nervous wreck. Casey's assigned to stay with her both as moral support and for tracking the caller through phone taps in the basement. Interestingly, however, the caller seems not to be a random stranger, but who then could he be.

Actually, the screenplay tips its hand early by showing us the caller, but we still don't know how he knows his victim. Actress Englund's excellent as the frazzled Betty. Too bad she has so few credits to a spotty career. There's some suspense in the plot, but little location scenery in the filming. Nonetheless, Garland does a good job showing the sympathetic person beneath the professional cop. All in all, it's a 30-minutes of solid human interest from an unusual perspective .
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