Personally, I believe the art of storytelling is one of the great arts. In this episode two things are at issue, age and talent. Even in the 1950's age discrimination had reared its ugly head. Not much has changed. Here an old actor with great credentials attempts to re-enter the acting fray, but has no means to do it because of hot shot directors and agents who wear their prejudice on their sleeves. The tale of the sad little girl in the frock tears at our hearts. This is a tale of loss and betrayal and the destruction of a man. But, it's also a tale grabbed onto by the master and presented so beautifully. Things haven't changed much in sixty years. Perhaps this episode could teach us something.
8 Reviews
An Actor's Life
jacquelinelinard38926 January 2020
Pleasure to watch this episode with the excellent and accomplished actor Herbert Marshall. I was mesmerised by the story told by him but then I could listen to his voice ad infinium. Indeed the quality of his voice is referred to by the sparkling Julie Adams.
I was also genuinely caught out by the twist usually I see them coming or it's easy to guess.
Well acted, interesting, emotionally moving, uplifting and relevant today.
I was also genuinely caught out by the twist usually I see them coming or it's easy to guess.
Well acted, interesting, emotionally moving, uplifting and relevant today.
A most unusual episode!
planktonrules2 April 2021
Most of the episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" are about crimes...particularly murder. However, "Little White Frock" is a show that has nothing to do with crime whatsoever...and this isn't a bad thing, as the episode is pretty good.
The show begins during a rehearsal for some play. The producer isn't thrilled with the reading and he wants to replace this older actor with another more talented older actor. Soon after, the producer meets up with an old has-been actor, Colin Bragner (Herbert Marshall) and he invites the producer and his wife over for dinner. The producer is loathe to accept as he figures Colin heard about the reading and wanted to audition for it. In fact, he does accept but makes it clear he isn't interested in Colin for the play....and Colin doesn't make a play for the part...at least, not directly. What's next? See the show.
This episode is very good for two reasons. The script is unique and interesting AND Marshall was a heck of a good actor. Overall, a lovely episode where no one dies, loses an eye or get robbed. Imagine that!
The show begins during a rehearsal for some play. The producer isn't thrilled with the reading and he wants to replace this older actor with another more talented older actor. Soon after, the producer meets up with an old has-been actor, Colin Bragner (Herbert Marshall) and he invites the producer and his wife over for dinner. The producer is loathe to accept as he figures Colin heard about the reading and wanted to audition for it. In fact, he does accept but makes it clear he isn't interested in Colin for the play....and Colin doesn't make a play for the part...at least, not directly. What's next? See the show.
This episode is very good for two reasons. The script is unique and interesting AND Marshall was a heck of a good actor. Overall, a lovely episode where no one dies, loses an eye or get robbed. Imagine that!
I LOVE Those Delicious Twists At The End - This is One of Best
poetcomic14 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Herbert Marshall (from Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent) and Tom Hellmore (who was Gavin Elster in Hitchcock's Vertigo). Give their all to the First Rate Silliphant script (he was one of the greatest of early TV's writers). Perhaps the least violent or macabre of all the half hour shows and yet one of the best. Our expectation of violence works perfectly to distract us from the delightful surprise ending.
Hitchcock had far more input and interest in the creation of these half hour gems than was formerly thought. Especially, choosing the actors, so many from his own films. His good friend Norman Lloyd the producer was in frequent informal contact about the shows, choice of material, etc.
Hitchcock had far more input and interest in the creation of these half hour gems than was formerly thought. Especially, choosing the actors, so many from his own films. His good friend Norman Lloyd the producer was in frequent informal contact about the shows, choice of material, etc.
Haunting
TheLittleSongbird21 March 2023
Season 3 was a season that started off absolutely wonderfully and it started off a lot more settled and more consistent than the previous two seasons. It was also another solid enough season, there were disappointments sure which was true of all 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' seasons. Such as "Silent Witness", "Dip in the Pool", "The Percentage" and especially "Sylvia". But also some absolute gems, like "The Glass Eye", "Reward to Finder", "The Right Kind of House" and particularly "Lamb to the Slaughter".
"Little White Frock" is a wonderful last episode to Season 3 and one of the season's best. Most of Herschel Daugherty's episodes were solid and more, and "Little White Frock" is one of the best of them and his best since "The Creeper" and perhaps surpassed only by that. It is a very different episode in that it is not about a crime strictly speaking and is more a character study with the themes of loss and betrayal, which is all done brilliantly in an episode that haunts the mind and tugs at the heart.
Playing a huge part in "Little White Frock's" success is the very powerful performance of Herbert Marshall, one that really hits skin deep emotionally and is really one of those performance of a lifetime performances. One of the best leading performances of the season along with Barbara Bel Geddes in "Lamb to the Slaughter". Tom Helmore and Julie Adams are also splendid and the dynamic between the three throughout is dynamite.
Furthermore, the episode is well made visually, especially the photography which has a lot of style and atmosphere. Simple but not simplistic. The main theme in the music, "Funeral March for a Marionette" has never been utilised better in film or television, is still haunting and has always fitted perfectly with the tone of the series. The script is incredibly thought provoking and not too rambling or wordy (despite there being a lot of talk, appropriate considering the story being told) or soapy, with some typically ironic bookending from Hitchcock.
The storytelling is pretty much spot on too, didn't mind at all that it was not the suspenseful or macabre kind and was more reflective, more personal and more emotional. The story that is told really tugged at my heart strings and is poignantly melancholic without wallowing in sentiment, rounded off beautifully by a very unexpected and clever ending.
Concluding, absolutely wonderful end to a solid enough season and a season high point. 10/10.
"Little White Frock" is a wonderful last episode to Season 3 and one of the season's best. Most of Herschel Daugherty's episodes were solid and more, and "Little White Frock" is one of the best of them and his best since "The Creeper" and perhaps surpassed only by that. It is a very different episode in that it is not about a crime strictly speaking and is more a character study with the themes of loss and betrayal, which is all done brilliantly in an episode that haunts the mind and tugs at the heart.
Playing a huge part in "Little White Frock's" success is the very powerful performance of Herbert Marshall, one that really hits skin deep emotionally and is really one of those performance of a lifetime performances. One of the best leading performances of the season along with Barbara Bel Geddes in "Lamb to the Slaughter". Tom Helmore and Julie Adams are also splendid and the dynamic between the three throughout is dynamite.
Furthermore, the episode is well made visually, especially the photography which has a lot of style and atmosphere. Simple but not simplistic. The main theme in the music, "Funeral March for a Marionette" has never been utilised better in film or television, is still haunting and has always fitted perfectly with the tone of the series. The script is incredibly thought provoking and not too rambling or wordy (despite there being a lot of talk, appropriate considering the story being told) or soapy, with some typically ironic bookending from Hitchcock.
The storytelling is pretty much spot on too, didn't mind at all that it was not the suspenseful or macabre kind and was more reflective, more personal and more emotional. The story that is told really tugged at my heart strings and is poignantly melancholic without wallowing in sentiment, rounded off beautifully by a very unexpected and clever ending.
Concluding, absolutely wonderful end to a solid enough season and a season high point. 10/10.
The audition of his life
classicsoncall29 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
On the search for an accomplished actor for his newest play, Adam Longsworth (Tom Helmore) has a week to come up with someone before his backer will call a hiatus. Through the grapevine, a former aging thespian would love to have the part, but get's the bum rush from Longsworth, feigning a schedule that's too busy to allow for an audition. Going above the playwright's head, so to speak, Colin Bragner (Herbert Marshall) sets up a dinner date with the Longsworth's by calling the wife (Julie Adams). Somewhat grudgingly, Longsworth agrees to please the Mrs., and following dinner, the old actor regales the couple with a story detailing his first love and the fellow actor who he lost her to. The intriguing tale verges on being a tearjerker when suddenly the housemaid interrupts to inquire about her daughter's dress, which Bragner used as a prop in his engaging story. So taken in by the account that he felt it was real, Longsworth decides that hiring Bragner wouldn't be the worst idea, since his acting skills were put to the test by coming up with a totally fabricated story. This was one of the few times a Hitchcock story ended without the expected irony of a criminal about to be exposed.
A tour de force from Herbert Marshall
sheepandsharks8 August 2023
This isn't your typical episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and it's all the better for it.
I'm not at all familiar with any of Herbert Marshall's other work, but this episode makes me want to find and watch it all. He's truly a captivating actor, carrying this episode entirely with his performance. I could watch this man do a dramatic reading of a phonebook!
It's appropriate that the episode ends up being a love letter to actors (which I'm sure Hitchcock just loved /s). Usually, an AHP episode with a lot of monologuing and flashbacks is a dull, dragging affair. In this case, it didn't last long enough.
I'm not at all familiar with any of Herbert Marshall's other work, but this episode makes me want to find and watch it all. He's truly a captivating actor, carrying this episode entirely with his performance. I could watch this man do a dramatic reading of a phonebook!
It's appropriate that the episode ends up being a love letter to actors (which I'm sure Hitchcock just loved /s). Usually, an AHP episode with a lot of monologuing and flashbacks is a dull, dragging affair. In this case, it didn't last long enough.
Above the average.
rmax30482325 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
It's a charming tale of an old actor, Herbert Marshall, who invites a playwright and his wife to dinner and regales them with a gripping story of love and betrayal backstage. Marshall's tale is all baloney. He made the whole thing up because he wanted a chance to audition for a part in the writer's new play. The subterfuge works and Marshall gets the part.
Marshall himself, as the nominal star, is adequate. He was always a decent actor without ever being particularly good. The playwright is the same actor who was Gavin Elster, the man who led Jimmy Stewart astray, in "Vertigo", and he's satisfying as well. The most expressive of the principals is Julie Adams. Her features are long, bony, striking, and beautiful. She managed to keep her good looks through John Wayne's "McQ", about fifteen years later.
Some people, luckier than others, get to look presentable and attractive for years. It counts for a great deal in today's vernacular culture. We would never elect a President Taft today. He was so fat he got stuck in the White House bath tub.
Marshall himself, as the nominal star, is adequate. He was always a decent actor without ever being particularly good. The playwright is the same actor who was Gavin Elster, the man who led Jimmy Stewart astray, in "Vertigo", and he's satisfying as well. The most expressive of the principals is Julie Adams. Her features are long, bony, striking, and beautiful. She managed to keep her good looks through John Wayne's "McQ", about fifteen years later.
Some people, luckier than others, get to look presentable and attractive for years. It counts for a great deal in today's vernacular culture. We would never elect a President Taft today. He was so fat he got stuck in the White House bath tub.
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