The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) Behind the Locked Door (1964) User Reviews

Don't read the IMDB summary

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 May 2021]

I advise you not to read the summary of this episode, as I did, because it pretty much IS the entire episode...including the twist.

When the story begins, Bonnie has just married Dave (James MacArthur) and they are visiting her childhood home, which has been shuttered for some time. However, her mother is apparently there and she confronts the two lovers. Unbeknownst to Dave, Bonnie is underage...and the marriage is not valid. The mother (Gloria Swanson) announces she's having the marriage annulled, as she thinks Dave is only interested in Bonnie because of her fortune. However, she can't stop Bonnie once she hits 18...but she can keep the money in trust until she's 25...and she assumes Dave will not be willing to wait. What's next and what is the locked door? See the show and find out for yourself.

Considering what a godawful person Dave turns out to be, the finale of this episode is quite satisfying and makes this one worth seeing. A dark and well deserved finale and solid acting make this one worth seeing. However, and I really HATE this, in the epilogue, Hitchcock gives yet another 'crime doesn't pay' speech---even though it's doubtful a crime was committed. For this, I had to knock off a point.

Only one small detail annoys me

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 19 January 2021]

This an outstanding and riveting story, more drama than crime or thriller, and pulled by terrific performances, especially Gloria Swanson. But one little thing annoys me though. In the final scene SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS when McArthur's characters lies down in the elevator shaft, and when Swanson talks to him, in an awesome low diving, long angle view shot, explaining to him how he will slowly and painfully die, in a long long agony, alone, WATCH OUT for his face. Watch out for his cool, relaxed face !!! Even me I would have done better !!! Such things happen from time to time in movies or TV stuff. It takes only a quarter of a second, but enough to annoy an attentive viewer.

Gloria Swanson chews up the scenery

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 15 May 2022]

Bonnie marries Dave (James MacArthur) and while visiting her childhood home, which has been closed for some time, her mother arrives, confronting the two lovers. Unbeknownst to Dave, Bonnie is underage...so the mother (Gloria Swanson) announces she's having the marriage annulled, as she thinks Dave is only interested in Bonnie because of her fortune. However, she can't stop Bonnie once she hits 18...but she can keep the money in trust until she's 25...and she assumes Dave will not be willing to wait. What's next and what is the locked door?

This is quite a tense, melodramatic thriller with a good performance from James MacArthur as Dave, a poor guy. You're not quite sure whether he's genuine in his love for Bonnie. But you do sense something is off with him. Lynn Loring is sweet and perfect as the naive Bonnie. But, of course, Gloria Swanson ( every guy's dream mother-in-law) totally steals the scene, and that last scene is quite chilling as she shuts the door.

Glorious Gloria Swanson Dominates as a Dominating Mother

[HarlowMGM · 10/10 · 11 September 2008]

Silent movie legend Gloria Swanson may run third in screen time in "BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR", an excellent episode of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR but she dominates it with her undiminished star power and well deserves her top billing. Swanson plays the possessive mother of young heiress Lynn Loring who keeps her daughter on A tight rein. Loring, a once sickly child, is still pampered and controlled by mother even as she longs to break away. Lynn continues to cling to her glamorous intimidating mother who can on occasion be belittling about her daughter's "plainness", leading Loring to a major inferiority complex and an occasionally melodramatic personality with irregular suicide threats. When Loring secretly weds James MacArthur, an enraged Swanson cuts her off financially. The newlyweds are uncaring as they bask in their new love but eventually the bills pile up and a desperate MacArthur concocts a scheme in which Loring writes her mom a suicide note and makes a deliberately unsuccessful try in an attempt to shock Swanson into coming around and reinstating Loring's inheritance which includes the erstwhile family mansion with a mysterious room locked for decades.

Basically a three person drama, MacArthur and Loring are fine but it's the ever glorious Ms. Swanson that is unforgettable as the haughty, stylish matron with a touch of Gothic chill about her. This little mystery makes one wish some producer had entered Swanson into the Bette Davis/Joan Crawford chiller market that was so popular on the big screen at the time, intimidating and chic, Swanson could have more than held her own in that genre.

Has Its Moments

[dougdoepke · 11 September 2015]

A young couple wed despite the wealthy Mother's disapproval. She forces an annulment, while the kids plot how to win her approval for a re-marriage. But what's behind the locked door in the old house, and how does that figure in.

Shame on IMDb's plot synopsis for giving away the ending without a spoiler alert. All in all, the hour amounts to a fairly suspenseful episode, one that's almost impossible to know where the story is going. However, suspense doesn't really kick in until the second half when the couple starts plotting against Mom (Swanson). But I have to agree somewhat with reviewer Hefilm-- the characters (especially Dave) plus developments ( Bonnie not knowing about barbiturates) amount to more than a typical stretch. Nonetheless, the acting does a lot to compensate, though I found Bonnie (Loring) quite pretty despite claims otherwise. (Hollywood never could cast a really 'plain' girl in the feminine lead.) To her credit, Swanson doesn't mind looking witchy when she needs to, thereby heightening the atmosphere. Overall, the entry may not first-rate Hitch, but it does have its moments, including an aptly unforeseeable ending (unless you read the synopsis).

Ignore the negative reviews.

[swnxtfpf · 10/10 · 19 June 2023]

Solid interesting story with surprising ending. Well acted, suspense throughout due to the mystery of the door. Several interesting plot twists. The negative reviews here make no sense.worth it for Gloria Swanson alone. Id call this one of Hitchcock's best. Several plot twists along the way. You'll be surprised by the ending. No dull moments in this well crafted tale. Gloria Swanson looks better here than n any of her other movies. Could have been a good full length feature movie. One you will remember for a long time. The ending Gus a true shoker. I'd buy the video if I could.

I'd rate it higher than 10 if I could.

Solid Story But Poor Cast

[ramsfan · 8/10 · 20 June 2023]

Secretly married, newlyweds Dave Snowden (James MacArthur) and Bonnie Daniels (Lynn Loring) sneak into Daniels' locked, uninhabited family home which has been on the market for years. Snowden's curiosity with a locked upstairs door is interrupted by the presence of Mrs. Snowden (Gloria Swanson), who was alerted to the break-in. Unbeknownst to Dave, Bonnie is underage- and her mother moves to annul the marriage and make sure Snowden, whom she intensely distrusts as being after her daughter's money, is out of her life. Thinking he'll be free of her domineering and overprotective mother when she turns 18, he remarries Bonnie- only to find out her inheritance can be tied up in Trust by her mother until she's 25. Together, they concoct a scheme to break free from the old woman's grasp- with tragic results.

The story is solid and the finale is in the tradition of fine Hitchcockian endings. However, Behind the Locked Door is hurt by poor casting. James MacArthur, excellent as Jack Lord's number two man on Hawaii Five-O for a decade, lacks the gristle to be convincing as the conniving Snowden. His last scene with Swanson was not played believingly, and it mars the ending. And Lynn Loring is far too beautiful to play a "plain and bland" young woman. Only Swanson delivers as expected, with more than a little hint of the Gloria Desmond character she perfected in "Sunset Boulevard". Definitely worth watching but could have been better with different leads.

Justice Done

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 21 May 2023]

We all remember Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard as she demands her close-up from the cameras. She is a rather severe looking elderly woman who never smiles. At first she seems a villain as she stands in the way of the young lovers' wishes. James MacArthur is romancing a very young woman who is heir to the fortune. We see right away that he has ulterior motives as he tries to pick a lock to a door that he believes is hiding a treasure. As time progresses we see numerous hints that he is no good. His ridiculous plan to stage a suicide attempt takes the life of his young wife who is totally dedicated to him. But there is sweet revenge and the final scene is "to die for."

We've gotta make it look good

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 24 August 2012]

***SPOILERS*** It's when she catches both her daughter Bonnie,Lynn Loring, and her boyfriend Dave Snowdan,James McArthur, snooping around her now deserted mansion Mrs. Daniels,Gloria Swanson, throws a fit when it's revealed to her that the two have just been married a week ago. Revealing to Bonnie's shocked husband Dave that she's under age, Bonnie is 17, Mrs.Daniels plans to have the marriage annulled and go so far as have him arrested for statutory rape if the marriage was indeed consummated if he doesn't check out of Bonnie's life.

Bonnie who's just two weeks away from her 18th birthday plans together with her love Dave to wait until then and then get legally married despite her mother cutting her out of her inheritance, which may be in the millions, until her 25th birthday. Thus making Dave, who doesn't have a pot to you known what to do in, have to suffer seven years in poverty until he can get his hands on Bonnie's as well as her mom's money. Trying to get Mrs. Daniels to see things their way Dave concocts this plan for Bonnie to try to kill herself with an overdose of sleeping pills to prove to her mother that she's more then willing to die then live without her approval of her marriage to Dave.

Giving Bonnie just enough sleeping pills to put her into a deep sleep and then have her mom, who was to receive a suicide note from Bonnie in the mail, come to her rescue seems to be the thing that will finally prove to mother that her love for Dave is legit! The one thing that Dave didn't know was that Bonnie suffered from a bout of rheumatic fever as a child and that even one sleeping pill, Bonnie took four of them, would be fatal!

***SPOILERS*** With a guilt ridden Mrs. Daniels leaving over her mansion to her late daughter's husband Dave it just seem to her that would be the right thing to do! Giving Dave the keys to the mansion he then goes right for this mysterious door that he was told by Bonnie, when she was alive, holds some very deep and dark secrets about the Daniel family that both her and her mom would rather try to forget. With Mrs. Daniel, who was one to Dave from day one, hiding in the mansion what Dave did and said in him bragging to himself about how he pulled off the perfect crime, having his wife killed, more then convinced her that he more then deserves what she had planned for him. That door that Dave gleefully opened and the mysterious room that he stepped into was not what he thought was: The place where the US Government kept the cold reserve of Fort Knox! It in fact turned out to be his demise! A demise of his own making!

Better look before leaping!

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 6 December 2022]

Something very curious. When Dave and Bonnie Daniels (James MacArthur, Lynn Loring) are first seen attempting to enter the Daniels mansion, there's very clearly posted a 'For Sale' sign on the property. But after that opening scene when Bonnie's mother, Mrs. Daniels (Gloria Swanson) makes her presence known, the rest of the story proceeds with the older woman living there and no mention of it being on the market. And astonishingly, the huge house is in the Daniels will for Bonnie when she comes of age! So what was the 'For Sale' sign nonsense all about?

Well, this one had a nasty turn of events, didn't it? Dave Snowden turned into a creep really quick, but you have to admire Bonnie's loyalty through thick and thin. This was the second Hitchcock in a row (the prior one was "Beast in View") in which the female lead was told by her father that she wasn't a pretty girl all through childhood, leading to personal insecurity and lack of self-esteem. In both shows, the woman in question was far from an ugly duckling, and in fact, each was quite attractive in her own way. Seems like casting couldn't really pull off using an unattractive woman in the lead for whatever reason prevailed during the era.

In any event, Dave and Bonnie remarried almost immediately after Mrs. Daniels' annulment of the first-time marriage due to her being underage. But with Dave's dreams of cashing in on his wife's assets in trust before she reaches twenty-five, he comes up with the brilliant plan of Bonnie faking suicide in order to prove to her mother how serious she is about her love for David. I'm not convinced this harebrained scheme would have worked even under the best of conditions, but as it turns out, for all his evil planning and schemes, the villainous Dave Snowden wound up getting the shaft!

RIDICULOUS!

[skarylarry-93400 · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

The girl they use in this plays an ugly duckling? She is actually quite good looking! Also, wouldn't the girl know she can't take sleeping pills? DUH!

The Heiress Redux

[sneedsnood · 5/10 · 7 March 2015]

This plot will be reasonably familiar to anyone who ever read "Washington Square," featuring a plain heiress and a dominating parent. In this case, the parent is Gloria Swanson, reprising her role as Norma Desmond with a touch of Malificent. Swanson is a scary lady -- I once spoke with her on the phone and she was scary even in that benign conversation. What charms she may once have had that made her a silent screen star remain mysterious. She would most likely have scared away any other suitor than James MacArthur, who reminds us that he was once a handsome and viable leading man. Lynne Loring plays a "plain" girl who is no plainer than anyone else, and whose bouffant hair styles and frosted lips do nothing to further that illusion. Once the two lovers are secretly married, the plot gets rickety, involving the fact that the bride is under age and the mother makes an unlikely offer to pay off the groom by funding his education in exchange for an annulment. Further complications involve a trust fund, which only slows down the story. The most annoying plot point comes late in the tale and involves a faked suicide that is foolish beyond redemption. The titular "locked door" turns out to be a looming presence that does little to enhance the plot, but makes for a Gothic ending.

extremely stupid

[HEFILM · 3/10 · 16 July 2013]

Based on Hitchcock staple and stable writer Henry Slesar story, I'll assume his name and reputation got the producers interested in what is an extremely stupid story and episode.

Also the casting is off. Lyn Loring is not plane or homely looking girl they keep referring to her as. Glora Swanson is old enough to be her grandmother not her mother--as Loring character is supposed to be 17 years old and is dressed like a grandmother rather than a mother as well.

James MacArthur is good and has a fun, if not very convincing, turn.

Producer director Douglas has one excellent creepy shot of Swanson near the end but this is overused as well.

The trouble is the major plot twists make no sense at all and are, afraid to use the overused word, but they are almost offensively stupid, they require the characters to become stupid and are just not convincing or motivated by the story either.

Herrmann contributes an original score but doesn't seem to be working too hard to save this show, which probably couldn't be saved anyway. He does fill up some silences and mostly focuses on scoring the kitchen sink romance element of the show. This aspect of the story does work though it's really just padding.

Sincere performances help--Swanson has one kind of campy moment, but the thing also feels padded in the middle. And the reasons for what's BEHIND THE DOOR becoming so important are also not convincing.

Nicely produced episode is all you can say in favor of it but the story doesn't work in an hour format and probably would work even less well, if that's possible, in a short form.

Well they can't all be winners. Hithcocks wrap around is the best part, involving changing signs on public restrooms. Skip the rest and watch these only if you can.

Hate the wrap-arounds

[Ripshin · 20 April 2024]

Why shouldn't Swanson's "Mrs. Daniels" get away with her plan, as she didn't actually murder him? Why would she end up in jail?

It's great to see Swanson, but she tends to chew the scenery, unlike Lillian Gish in her performance the same season.

MacArthur's take on "Dave" is fine, although his little happy dance at the end seems forced. (And does his "song" include a word that kind of shocks me for 1963?)

The whole suicide scheme is ridiculous, especially if "Bonnie" knows that she can't survive barbiturates. And I don't buy just because she recently turned eighteen, she couldn't recognize that Dave is horrible. (I know, I know - her "upbringing." Supposedly. Meh.)