I thought it was pretty good. The woman was dealing with mental issues and got a job she was good at. If she made a mistake, it was going too far, connecting with her boss. He came to realize that he also was putting his marriage and life at risk. He does the cowardly thing. He sends a subordinate to fire her with no real grounds for dismissal. It's really quite intense and she flexes her muscles, but, by the same token, she is fragile and perhaps doomed by her emotions.
13 Reviews
Bleak yet has a great performance by Thaxter
coltras3512 May 2022
A mentally unstable secretary finally catches up to her cruel former boss and makes him listen to what she has to say, at gunpoint. Excellent performance by Phyllis Thacker, who is quite intense, noirish look and the lovely trains makes this an interesting, if a little on the bleak side. Zachary Scott looks suitably pompous.
"I still have good dreams sometimes."
classicsoncall6 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This episode had one of the oddest conclusions for a Hitchcock episode, leaving one wondering if it was actually the end of the story or not. One can surmise either way what actually happened between Blake (Zachary Scott) and Miss Scott (Phyllis Thaxter) on the evening she invited him into her apartment, though his remark that he could catch the next train kind of clinches it for this viewer. Taking advantage of her momentary lapse of passion was demonstrably wrong given her history as a mental patient, something Blake would have known when the woman was hired. Then, failing to address her repeated attempts at reconciliation after she was fired, only managed to heighten her grievance to the point of her action on the train. So, was Miss Dent simply trying to teach him a lesson, or was she seeking some solace for her injured pride in the face of his rejection? In any event, Blake got what he probably deserved, a face full of mud to go with his arrogant personality.
Thaxter Showcase
dougdoepke15 November 2009
As Hitchcock fare, the entry is pretty slender. The screenplay manages some tension as Thaxter's Miss Dent holds her former boss Mr. Blake (Scott) at gunpoint throughout their commuter ride home on the Five-Forty-Eight. She's a troubled, lonely woman quite willing to be seduced by Blake in a well done scene suggestive for 50's TV. The problem is he callously fires her the next day amid all her romantic expectations. Now she's mad as heck and we wonder what form her troubled revenge will take.
The story's adapted from literary writer John Cheever, but comes across as rather talky for a standard Hitchcock entry. The ending manages some irony, but lacks the expected punch. Where the entry succeeds is as a showcase for actress Thatcher who specialized in just such troubled roles. Here, she goes through a gamut of emotions convincingly, such that the episode really depends on her skills to carry it along. She's one of those attractive rather than glamorous actresses who found a successful niche in Hollywood. Scott appears type-cast as the insensitive cad, doing his usual credible job, but without the trademark moustache. Gothic director John Brahm, is, as always, an ace at creating dark atmosphere. Anyway, for fans of Thaxter, myself included, the 30-minutes remains a showcase.
The story's adapted from literary writer John Cheever, but comes across as rather talky for a standard Hitchcock entry. The ending manages some irony, but lacks the expected punch. Where the entry succeeds is as a showcase for actress Thatcher who specialized in just such troubled roles. Here, she goes through a gamut of emotions convincingly, such that the episode really depends on her skills to carry it along. She's one of those attractive rather than glamorous actresses who found a successful niche in Hollywood. Scott appears type-cast as the insensitive cad, doing his usual credible job, but without the trademark moustache. Gothic director John Brahm, is, as always, an ace at creating dark atmosphere. Anyway, for fans of Thaxter, myself included, the 30-minutes remains a showcase.
"The Five-Forty-Eight" is a slow moving train
chuck-reilly3 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This entry into the Hitchcock series is not your standard episode by any means. It's more or less a character study of a woman who is having severe mental problems (Phyllis Thaxter at her frenzied and harried best). She plays an unstable secretary who has a brief affair with her boss (a disinterested Zachary Scott) who promptly fires her the very day after their bedroom encounter. Already distraught for a variety of reasons, nervous and distracted Phyllis decides to take matters into her own hands and begins stalking Scott. She finally ends up on the same commuter train with him (the "Five-Forty-Eight" of the title) and shoves a small handgun into his ribs. Phyllis has something to tell this fellow and she'll pull the trigger in a second if he calls for help. Unfortunately, that scenario is the meat of this story. When the two disembark from the train, Phyllis takes poor Zachary to the edges of the railroad yard and makes him get on this knees and then has him plunge his face into the muddy ground. She lets him live for reasons known only to herself. The end. Directed by John Brahm, this episode mainly serves as an acting lesson in hysterics given by the great Phyllis Thaxter. Scott, a fine actor in his own right, is given little to do but hear Phyllis out as she relates to him her anxieties, fears, anger etc. Mordified and embarrassed, Zachary has to sit there with a gun stuck in his ribs and take it all in. The final frame shows him lifting his head up from the mud and expressing relief that it's all over. He was probably also happy that the filming for this entry was over too. Many viewers will feel the same way.
Riveting Train Ride
MichaelMartinDeSapio10 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I just watched "The Five-Forty-Eight" last night and was riveted. I'm quite surprised to see the lukewarm reviews here. John Brahm, the director, had a penchant for noirish, anxiety-laden night pieces like this one. ("The Five-Forty-Eight" in fact has a similar feel to the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image", also directed by Brahm.) Phyllis Thaxter is terrific as the lonely, fragile secretary who goes over the edge after being jilted by Zachary Scott's weak, cad businessman. Brahm ratchets up the tension and suspense by having Thaxter narrate the back-story in flashback while holding Scott at gunpoint on a commuter train. The final scene, with Thaxter marching Scott like an execution squad out to a field outside the train station, had me guessing all the way how it would end. A must see!
Another fantastic performance from Phyllis Thaxter
glitterrose31 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Our characters in this story are Mr. Blake and Ms. Dent. Mr. Blake was Ms. Dent's boss. Keyword being 'was'.
Ms. Dent hasn't had it easy. She's been ill with mental health problems. She was absolutely thrilled that she landed a job she enjoyed. Let me interrupt for a second and praise the writing just as much as the performance from Phyllis Thaxter. There were a couple of quotes in this episode that had me nodding my head because I could relate to them.
Anyway, Ms. Dent has a job she enjoys but all that's about to change as it shows in our flashback segments. Ms. Dent invites Mr. Blake to her place and things get a little carried away. The two end up kissing, nothing more. But it was still enough for Ms. Dent to get the axe during the next work day.
Ms. Dent is a brave character because she tries her best to confront the cowardly Mr. Blake but he shuns her and refuses to see her. So all of this is leading to the main action of the story where the only way Ms. Dent can talk to Mr. Blake is by gunpoint while the two are riding on a train.
I want to go against the tide of the reviews feeling that this episode didn't have a true ending or the writer didn't know how to end it. I honestly think the episode ended fantastically. It's honestly a lesson I wish I could observe. You have this lady talking about her illness throughout parts of this episode and she could've easily shot Mr. Blake once she ordered him to put his face in the dirt. Or she could've let what this guy did to her get her insides all twisted. I'm going through something right now and I can't begin to explain the anger, bitterness and resentment I feel. Yes, I feel this twisting my insides and I know I'm basically poisoning myself at the end of the day. Ms. Dent's choosing not to be this way. Ms. Dent (correctly) tells Mr. Blake she's better than he is. She also rightfully points out he's basically not worth ruining/wasting her life. Again, it's a valuable lesson that's pointed out in the script and I hope to get to the day where I can walk away like Ms. Dent does. And Ms. Dent walks away while you see another shot of Mr. Blake still on the ground and his face covered in dirt.
Fantastic job all around in terms of writing and acting performances!
Ms. Dent hasn't had it easy. She's been ill with mental health problems. She was absolutely thrilled that she landed a job she enjoyed. Let me interrupt for a second and praise the writing just as much as the performance from Phyllis Thaxter. There were a couple of quotes in this episode that had me nodding my head because I could relate to them.
Anyway, Ms. Dent has a job she enjoys but all that's about to change as it shows in our flashback segments. Ms. Dent invites Mr. Blake to her place and things get a little carried away. The two end up kissing, nothing more. But it was still enough for Ms. Dent to get the axe during the next work day.
Ms. Dent is a brave character because she tries her best to confront the cowardly Mr. Blake but he shuns her and refuses to see her. So all of this is leading to the main action of the story where the only way Ms. Dent can talk to Mr. Blake is by gunpoint while the two are riding on a train.
I want to go against the tide of the reviews feeling that this episode didn't have a true ending or the writer didn't know how to end it. I honestly think the episode ended fantastically. It's honestly a lesson I wish I could observe. You have this lady talking about her illness throughout parts of this episode and she could've easily shot Mr. Blake once she ordered him to put his face in the dirt. Or she could've let what this guy did to her get her insides all twisted. I'm going through something right now and I can't begin to explain the anger, bitterness and resentment I feel. Yes, I feel this twisting my insides and I know I'm basically poisoning myself at the end of the day. Ms. Dent's choosing not to be this way. Ms. Dent (correctly) tells Mr. Blake she's better than he is. She also rightfully points out he's basically not worth ruining/wasting her life. Again, it's a valuable lesson that's pointed out in the script and I hope to get to the day where I can walk away like Ms. Dent does. And Ms. Dent walks away while you see another shot of Mr. Blake still on the ground and his face covered in dirt.
Fantastic job all around in terms of writing and acting performances!
A mentally unstable woman who is armed and dangerous...and a seemingly incomplete script.
planktonrules13 April 2021
Miss Dent (Phyllis Thaxter) is a former employee of Mr. Blake (Zachary Scott). Shortly after the episode begins, she approaches him to talk...and he runs from her. He then tries to dodge her by going into a bar...and he thinks he's evaded her. Soon, however, it's obvious she's not giving up and when he takes his train home from work, she sits next to him and threatens to shoot him unless he sits still and listen to her! Well, that clearly is one way to guarantee he'll stop avoiding her! It seems that some time ago, Miss Dent had a nervous breakdown after she was fired by Blake. Why she blames him for all this is something you'll have to see for yourself.
As you'd expect, Zachary Scott is very smooth in the role and plays the sort of jerk you often expect from him. He was excellent in such parts. As for Phyllis Thaxter, she also seemed very good at playing nervous and mentally unstable sorts of roles and is very good here as well. As for the script, it's very tense and original. BUT, there is a problem...there really is no twist at the end. It just looks as if the writer had no idea what to do and left it undone.
As you'd expect, Zachary Scott is very smooth in the role and plays the sort of jerk you often expect from him. He was excellent in such parts. As for Phyllis Thaxter, she also seemed very good at playing nervous and mentally unstable sorts of roles and is very good here as well. As for the script, it's very tense and original. BUT, there is a problem...there really is no twist at the end. It just looks as if the writer had no idea what to do and left it undone.
Shaddy Hill
thbryn6 February 2019
Ms. Thaxter has a problem. Whether Mr.Scott can recognize this and tries to take advantage of her or he is just unlucky, isn't clear. In either case the characters played by these fine actors find serious trouble in their confrontation on a commuter train.
Never Mess with Crazy Women
JohnD618 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Poor Scott gave the woman a break by giving her a job knowing she was as crazy as a loon, so it's hard to work up much sympathy for him. At the end, I had hopes she would walk onto the tracks and be flattened by an oncoming train. Someday her character is going to be on trial for murder. Thaxter did a good job acting nuts, but Scott had little to do.
Zachary Scott gets his comeuppance once again.
appealing_talent30 March 2024
Zachary Scott, who was arguably the king of Film-Noir villainous cads, is up to his old tricks in this dark tale of humiliation and revenge. He seduces and abruptly fires his new secretary, a high strung, vulnerable Phyllis Thaxter. But then she valiantly plans and executes her special brand of retaliation. Her payback is possibly more degrading than the various and sundry ways old Zachary 'bit the dust' in those '40s movies, such as "Mildred Pierce" and "Flamingo Road." Both actors were nothing short of brilliant in their characterizations and the train ride was especially intense. This episode remains my favorite not only because of the story, but also because of the perfectly cast players for those two roles.
Unusual reviews
belanger756 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Fans of Phyllis Thaxter? I count as one myself but why would anyone else be a fan of this great and extremely beautiful actress? Because she played Superman's earth mom? Why would the actor Scott be happy the episode here was finished filming? He got to smooch with the great Thaxter in one scene. How did the reviewer know that the episode was shot in sequence? Did he read that somewhere? Or was the reviewer merely guessing?
Look the ep is superb due to Thaxter but plot-wise it is vaguely inane. Could Scott not have reached her very lovely armed hand (which was constantly at excessively at close range) and simply have gotten the very small gun to have pointed straight up at the train ceiling alerting the other passengers?
In what way was the episode more talky than usual? (Back to other reviews many of which were a little strange?) It was no more talky than many many eps of AHP!
No reviewers guessed apparently that Thaxter's gun was obviously a cigarette lighter! No mention of the gun in flashback hinted this as well.
PS I have a Phyllis Thaxter moment to share. I saw her surprisingly only good to so-so performance on Mission:Impossible and at the end I learned it was not her--it was Kim Hunter!
Look the ep is superb due to Thaxter but plot-wise it is vaguely inane. Could Scott not have reached her very lovely armed hand (which was constantly at excessively at close range) and simply have gotten the very small gun to have pointed straight up at the train ceiling alerting the other passengers?
In what way was the episode more talky than usual? (Back to other reviews many of which were a little strange?) It was no more talky than many many eps of AHP!
No reviewers guessed apparently that Thaxter's gun was obviously a cigarette lighter! No mention of the gun in flashback hinted this as well.
PS I have a Phyllis Thaxter moment to share. I saw her surprisingly only good to so-so performance on Mission:Impossible and at the end I learned it was not her--it was Kim Hunter!
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