Another reviewer suggests a second viewing, which I found myself doing without the recommendation. I dozed off the first time and thought I missed some nuance. I really didn't, but the second time allowed me to catch how often Seymour Johnston (Hurd Hatfield) deliberately hid his right side profile, although if you watch closely, there's an early scene in Aunt Muriel's (Mildred Dunnock) parlor when he turns favorably to the right and the embarrassingly huge birthmark isn't there to be seen. It's interesting in stories like this how the unseen original owner of the wallet, Antonio Bertani, never stepped forward to question the suspicious expenses that Seymour accrued to his bank balance. I thought perhaps that would figure in the resolution somehow, but the story went in a different direction. The whole thing rested on Seymour's blind spot regarding his otherwise handsome looks, a flaw that figuratively vanished by pretending it didn't exist. His other flaw was thinking he could get away with the perfect crime, a mistake he wouldn't get to make again anytime soon.
16 Reviews
Delicious episode
searchanddestroy-112 July 2019
Hurd Hatfield is perfect in this role that suits him like a glove; I would have seen a like of Georges Sanders in this poisonous, cynical dandy dude. The kind of heavy that you also could see in COLUMBO series as Peter Falk's nemesis planning the perfect murder. That makes me say that it's a shame that Hatfield never played against the dirty raincoat weared lieutnant. But back to this episode, yes, that's a real good one.
Blind to evil
TheLittleSongbird23 April 2022
There are a few interest points here. One is that it is directed by the most prolific 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' director Robert Stevens, who did do some misfires ("The Hidden Thing") but also some truly fine episodes. Two is that it starred some good talent such as Hurd Hatfield and Mildred Dunnock in the cast. Three is that there have been some inevitable comparisons to Season 1's "The Perfect Murder", which is agreed a better eisode, and can see why.
"None are So Blind" is worth watching enough for anybody on a 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' binge and for anybody that loves the master of suspense (count me as one of those people). Yet it falls rather short of its potential. It is not one of the worst episodes of Season 2 but also not one of the best, up to this point none of the five episodes of the season have bowled me over. Stevens did direct better and worse, this is somewhere in the middle for him, and there are better and worse episodes of the series.
Am going to begin with the good. Hatfield is an elegant and later unnerving presence, which suited the role very well. Dunnock is in a role that plays to her strengths and she gives it plenty of grit. This is definitely a case of the cast being better than the episode. Hitchcock's bookending is intriguing and amusing as ever.
Furthermore, "None are So Blind" is solidly made, the photography having some nice atmosphere, there is some assured if not distinguished direction from Stevens and "Funeral March of a Marionette" is never going to stop being memorable. There is some nice suspense in the middle when Hatfield's character darkens. The script intrigues.
Having said all of that, "None are So Blind" is flawed. The story on the whole is pretty derivative, being too closely indebted to "The Perfect Murder" (except that episode was more realistic and suspenseful), occasionally silly and the suspense could have been more consistent.
Did feel that the script is too talky and that the episode goes too far in making Hatfield's character as hard to like as possible (making the aunt being so easily manipulated hard to buy or see much appeal in him). Will agree that the episode is most let down by the truly silly and too gimmicky ending. Being memorable but not for the right reasons.
In conclusion, acceptable but not exceptional. 6/10.
"None are So Blind" is worth watching enough for anybody on a 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' binge and for anybody that loves the master of suspense (count me as one of those people). Yet it falls rather short of its potential. It is not one of the worst episodes of Season 2 but also not one of the best, up to this point none of the five episodes of the season have bowled me over. Stevens did direct better and worse, this is somewhere in the middle for him, and there are better and worse episodes of the series.
Am going to begin with the good. Hatfield is an elegant and later unnerving presence, which suited the role very well. Dunnock is in a role that plays to her strengths and she gives it plenty of grit. This is definitely a case of the cast being better than the episode. Hitchcock's bookending is intriguing and amusing as ever.
Furthermore, "None are So Blind" is solidly made, the photography having some nice atmosphere, there is some assured if not distinguished direction from Stevens and "Funeral March of a Marionette" is never going to stop being memorable. There is some nice suspense in the middle when Hatfield's character darkens. The script intrigues.
Having said all of that, "None are So Blind" is flawed. The story on the whole is pretty derivative, being too closely indebted to "The Perfect Murder" (except that episode was more realistic and suspenseful), occasionally silly and the suspense could have been more consistent.
Did feel that the script is too talky and that the episode goes too far in making Hatfield's character as hard to like as possible (making the aunt being so easily manipulated hard to buy or see much appeal in him). Will agree that the episode is most let down by the truly silly and too gimmicky ending. Being memorable but not for the right reasons.
In conclusion, acceptable but not exceptional. 6/10.
Too Gimmicky
dougdoepke4 April 2016
Fairly suspenseful episode, until the really gimmicky upshot. Seymour is a slightly effete antiques dealer with a wealthy Aunt Muriel (Dunnock). Seems he's got pretensions of being too superior to go to work now that his shop is failing and auntie is tired of supporting it. Besides Muriel is beginning to treat him with disdain mainly because of his posturing airs. So being the egotist he is, guess what he contemplates.
Hatfield specialized in such fey parts beginning with The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). Here his smooth face and elegant manner are quite believable. Dunnock too registers as the gritty aunt. But the payoff to his rather pedestrian plan is little more than a quirky gimmick that should have been re-thought. In passing-- I can't help noting KT Stevens' rather inessential role as Seymour's sultry paramour. I suspect the role was tacked on by TV's Standards and Practices to assure audiences that the effete Seymour was not actually gay despite his fey manner. That's just my surmise. Nonetheless, TV was indeed that airbrushed during the culturally conservative 1950's.
Hatfield specialized in such fey parts beginning with The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). Here his smooth face and elegant manner are quite believable. Dunnock too registers as the gritty aunt. But the payoff to his rather pedestrian plan is little more than a quirky gimmick that should have been re-thought. In passing-- I can't help noting KT Stevens' rather inessential role as Seymour's sultry paramour. I suspect the role was tacked on by TV's Standards and Practices to assure audiences that the effete Seymour was not actually gay despite his fey manner. That's just my surmise. Nonetheless, TV was indeed that airbrushed during the culturally conservative 1950's.
See more
Archbishop_Laud7 July 2013
This is another episode with an inheritance at stake, and a wealthy ne'er do well (Hurd Hatfield) willing to kill to get it. Our pretentious protagonist narrates a good part of the tale. He imagines he should have lived during the Renaissance. He says things like "I never worry about age. I have the sort of bone structure that lasts."
Seymour (that's his symbol-laden name) tells us fairly early on about his plan to kill his aunt, so that's not where the suspense lies. Instead, it's about how the plan will inevitably fail (or will it succeed in the story, only to have Hitch tells us he was caught afterward?).
It's an interesting character. The ending is kind of silly - there's a dramatic ta-da! effect - but I don't mind that.
Seymour (that's his symbol-laden name) tells us fairly early on about his plan to kill his aunt, so that's not where the suspense lies. Instead, it's about how the plan will inevitably fail (or will it succeed in the story, only to have Hitch tells us he was caught afterward?).
It's an interesting character. The ending is kind of silly - there's a dramatic ta-da! effect - but I don't mind that.
A good episode. But its been done better before.
b_kite6 May 2021
This isn't the first time this series has explored the story of the lazy descendent that decides he wants to inherit a rich loved ones wealth so he decides to kill them with there stupidity coming back to get them in the end. The same applies here and we have Hurd Hatfield pretty much doing the same thing he did in the season one episode "The Perfect Murder", funny both actresses playing the Aunts are named Mildred to. This one isn't as good as that one, but, I enjoyed it all the same the build up is fine, but, it's the twist which is lacking in my opinion.
Forever Young!!
kidboots22 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Hurd Hatfield, to me, will always be Dorian Grey, the man who traded his soul so that he would always look youthful even though leading a life of debauchery. I suppose a lot of film goers in the mid fifties had that feeling too (he really seemed to have discovered the fountain of youth) - so it is not surprising that he should turn up in this episode as a man who takes narcissism to a new level.
So far this second series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents has not lived up to the first - the episodes I have seen are full of black humor and the endings are unsatisfactory. "None Are So Blind" is unfortunately more of the same with Hatfield starring as Seymour Johnston, a man so blinded by fantasy that he sees his sensible Aunt Muriel (fantastic Mildred Dunnock) as a miserly shrew who won't give him an opportunity to make good. His father knew his true nature and entrusted his inheritance to his aunt but, at the end of his rope, he thinks that the only way he can live the way he feels is his due is by killing his aunt.
He finds a wallet complete with a driver's license and intends to take on the owner's identity to form an alibi when he gets around to murdering his aunt. He meets a neighbour at the boarding house and makes sure he leaves her with a formidable impression of a grumpy old man - unfortunately for him he leaves another more lasting impression.
Episode blunder - when he puts the letter to his aunt in the drawer, it was empty, but when the police find the letter, it is not only in a different drawer, the drawer is full of papers!!
So far this second series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents has not lived up to the first - the episodes I have seen are full of black humor and the endings are unsatisfactory. "None Are So Blind" is unfortunately more of the same with Hatfield starring as Seymour Johnston, a man so blinded by fantasy that he sees his sensible Aunt Muriel (fantastic Mildred Dunnock) as a miserly shrew who won't give him an opportunity to make good. His father knew his true nature and entrusted his inheritance to his aunt but, at the end of his rope, he thinks that the only way he can live the way he feels is his due is by killing his aunt.
He finds a wallet complete with a driver's license and intends to take on the owner's identity to form an alibi when he gets around to murdering his aunt. He meets a neighbour at the boarding house and makes sure he leaves her with a formidable impression of a grumpy old man - unfortunately for him he leaves another more lasting impression.
Episode blunder - when he puts the letter to his aunt in the drawer, it was empty, but when the police find the letter, it is not only in a different drawer, the drawer is full of papers!!
deserves a better review
lucad_9915 October 2010
I see that there is only one review of this episode and I feel it deserves better than what it has received. The whole point of Alfred Hitchcock Presents is to create, in half an hour, an interesting character or two and to present the audience with a little twist that they can think about for the rest of the day with satisfaction. It is especially good if the audience has no idea what the twist is going to be, but with little hints along the way to make us realize afterwards that we should have guessed. And the title is always a clue in itself.
Hurd Hatfield is a very good actor, and he was famous for his day because of Dorian Grey. He once said that Dorian Grey was both the best and worst thing that had ever happened to him. He is excellent in the role... perfect in fact, which is why the twist is such a shock. The supporting cast, especially the detective, are great, and it is a lovely episode and a lot of fun. As usual AH does some lovely stuff at the beginning.
Give this episode a chance. It is definitive Hitchcock presents and a lot of fun.
Hurd Hatfield is a very good actor, and he was famous for his day because of Dorian Grey. He once said that Dorian Grey was both the best and worst thing that had ever happened to him. He is excellent in the role... perfect in fact, which is why the twist is such a shock. The supporting cast, especially the detective, are great, and it is a lovely episode and a lot of fun. As usual AH does some lovely stuff at the beginning.
Give this episode a chance. It is definitive Hitchcock presents and a lot of fun.
Use your brain while watching. Keep in mind when episode was filmed.
seakenp28 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Better than other reviews would lead you to believe
americancarioca28 December 2017
You'll probably have to watch this one twice. Some may notice something is off during the episode. Some may not. Either way, once the ending is revealed you'll probably want to go back and watch it again.
I have no clue what the other poster is talking about with the drawer. It certainly is not empty when it is first opened.
I have no clue what the other poster is talking about with the drawer. It certainly is not empty when it is first opened.
The already foreseeable doomed storyline, sadly it's available once more!!
elo-equipamentos2 July 2023
Hitchcock sardonically introduces the character of Hurd Hatfield wearing wigs cracking the mirror, possibly for his natural ugliness of course, therefore it exposes how a guy could be embodies another personality himself having a best side-looked, see by yourself.
A lazy nephew Seymour Johnson (Hurd Hatfield) lost his inheritance in behalf of his auntie Muriel Drummond (Mildred Dunnock) previously his father replaces Seymour at his bequest due their countless recklessness dealing with money, in other hand ceaselessly Seymour has been returned to sway her stringent auntie Muriel dock money in an antique shop, in face her refusal the fate of destiny aid him to get rid of his auntie due just in case of his dead, the bleak Seymour will the next akin to receive the heritage, he finds a empty wallet containing a I. D. from a guy called Antonio Bertani, henceforth Seymour settles a plot to charge Bertani for a supposed Muriel death carried out for himself.
Hurd Hatfield fits perfect in the cynical guy Seymour, his face is already yawning the brazen character conceived in the story, by the way this episode-plot still has some alike in others shows and extremely foreseeable.
Thanks for reading.
Resume:
First Watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.
A lazy nephew Seymour Johnson (Hurd Hatfield) lost his inheritance in behalf of his auntie Muriel Drummond (Mildred Dunnock) previously his father replaces Seymour at his bequest due their countless recklessness dealing with money, in other hand ceaselessly Seymour has been returned to sway her stringent auntie Muriel dock money in an antique shop, in face her refusal the fate of destiny aid him to get rid of his auntie due just in case of his dead, the bleak Seymour will the next akin to receive the heritage, he finds a empty wallet containing a I. D. from a guy called Antonio Bertani, henceforth Seymour settles a plot to charge Bertani for a supposed Muriel death carried out for himself.
Hurd Hatfield fits perfect in the cynical guy Seymour, his face is already yawning the brazen character conceived in the story, by the way this episode-plot still has some alike in others shows and extremely foreseeable.
Thanks for reading.
Resume:
First Watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.
HAVE A NICE DAY, IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT!
tcchelsey18 May 2022
Tall, dark and handsome Hurd Hatfield (best known for the PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY) is well cast as a gentleman of no means who has a wealthy aunt to take care of --and he wants her dough.
As in the tradition of Hitchcock, whether it be on the big or small screen, our central character believes he's smarter than everyone else and assumes another man's identity to finish the job. A very good exercise on human nature at its worst that will have you watching Hatfield's every single move. Excellent supporting cast, headed by Mildred Dunnock as the aunt, who was nominated for an Oscar (BABY DOLL), the year this episode was filmed.
Now you know why Robert Stevens was Hitchcock's favorite director.
Hitch, as usual, has some funny opening and closing comments, and don't you get the feeling he always wanted to be an actor? Best of SEASON 2 remastered dvd box set. 5 dvd set.
As in the tradition of Hitchcock, whether it be on the big or small screen, our central character believes he's smarter than everyone else and assumes another man's identity to finish the job. A very good exercise on human nature at its worst that will have you watching Hatfield's every single move. Excellent supporting cast, headed by Mildred Dunnock as the aunt, who was nominated for an Oscar (BABY DOLL), the year this episode was filmed.
Now you know why Robert Stevens was Hitchcock's favorite director.
Hitch, as usual, has some funny opening and closing comments, and don't you get the feeling he always wanted to be an actor? Best of SEASON 2 remastered dvd box set. 5 dvd set.
Hatfield made a similar episode in season one...and co-starring a woman named Mildred in both cases!
planktonrules20 February 2021
In the first season of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", Hurd Hatfield starred in an episode called "The Perfect Murder". In it, he and his brother are upset that their aunt inherits money that they feel is rightfully theirs....so they plan on murdering her (Mildred Natwick). Here in season two in "None Are So Blind", the plot is VERY similar and the aunt is played by a different Mildred...Mildred Dunnock.
When the episode begins, you learn that Seymour (Hatfield) did not inherit his father's estate and instead this aunt (Dunnock) did. The reason is that Seymour is very vain, lazy and irresponsible and he'd likely blow through the money in short order. Of course, he will likely inherit this upon the death of his aunt....and he then concocts a complicated plan to do away with her.
The twist at the end seemed,...well...kind of silly. I loved Hatfield's acting...but the twist just seemed poor...at best. This and the similarity of the two episodes (too much) are why I only score this one a 5.
When the episode begins, you learn that Seymour (Hatfield) did not inherit his father's estate and instead this aunt (Dunnock) did. The reason is that Seymour is very vain, lazy and irresponsible and he'd likely blow through the money in short order. Of course, he will likely inherit this upon the death of his aunt....and he then concocts a complicated plan to do away with her.
The twist at the end seemed,...well...kind of silly. I loved Hatfield's acting...but the twist just seemed poor...at best. This and the similarity of the two episodes (too much) are why I only score this one a 5.
ID Theft in 1956
rwzimdpa20 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This 1956 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents considers the use of a stolen ID for criminal purposes. In the 21st century, stolen ID's are mostly used fraudulently in the financial world. The purpose of the stolen ID in this episode is to incriminate a third party for the murder of a wealthy aunt and to enable inheriting from her estate. The writers had many options in choosing the final twist. I think they could have had a better choice, e.g. the third party was in the morgue the day before, or the third party was incarcerated, or the third party was a homicide detective. To their credit, however, in an interesting way, they addressed a situation that is a problem that plagues us today.
Brilliant episode ...
dweilermg-115 October 2018
Throwaway Episode
Hitchcoc30 October 2008
Everything about this is dumb, from the basic premise to the silly conclusion. Seymour is such a jerk of a character it makes you wonder why anyone would put up with him for a moment. Why is he allowed to lounge around in that house, making his pronouncements and whining about his lot in life. The woman should have tossed his sorry butt out of there long ago. He runs a stupid antique shop, which, I guess, keeps him respectable and part of the hoi poloi. He eats at diners and pontificates to those around him. We hear his worthless thoughts. He has so little imagination but does have the advantage that everyone believes that he is too lazy, even to commit a violent act. The story drones on in one improbability after another and the ending is an absolutely snooze. Don't bother with this, even though the famous actor, Hurd Hatfield (just kidding), is in it. I thought Soupy Sales would have been a better choice.
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