"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" Where the Woodbine Twineth (1965)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Alf Kjellin

Writers:

James Bridges (teleplay)
Davis Grubb (short story)

TV Series:

"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1962)

Original Air Date:

11 January 1965 (Season 3, Episode 13)

Genre:

Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

After Eva Snyder becomes an orphan, she comes to live with the elderly Mississippi riverboat Captain King Snyder and his old maid sister Nell...

Plot Keywords:

Doll | Orphan | Imaginary Friend | Player Piano | Riverboat

Cast

Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Margaret Leighton	...	Nell Snyder
Carl Benton Reid	...	Capt. King Snyder
Juanita Moore	...	Suse
Joel Fluellen	...	Jesse
E.J. André	...	Preacher (as E.J. Andre)
Lila Perry	...	Numa
Eileen Baral	...	Eva Snyder

Runtime:

48 min

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions

Haunting

Superior Hitchcock fare. Excellent script makes good use of hour format, something the other 60-minute episodes by and large could not do. Are little Eva's playmates real or not. She seems so convinced and convincing. Suspense builds nicely, helped along by an exquisite performance from Margaret Leighton as the anguished aunt. Watch the subtle progression of facial expressions as she moves from normalcy to genuine trauma over the obsessive state of her young niece. Little Eileen Baral, on whom the episode turns, is wonderfully natural, with no hint of artificial emotion-- I suspect that when a child actor performs this well, a lot of credit must go to the director (here, Alf Kjellin). There's a really creepy undertone to the story that could have been heightened by a more Gothic approach, instead of the straightforward, high-key lighting which drains the visuals of the kind of shadowy atmosphere that would complement the script. Still and all, it's a haunting 60 minutes, one that's likely to stay with you. And for those who care, I suspect there's an allegory about race relations in the Jim Crow South lurking somewhere in the subtext.