Telephone Time (TV Series) Alice's Wedding Gown (1957) User Reviews

Wow...a bit old fashioned and heavy-handed but still worth seeing.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 7 August 2016]

"Telephone Time" was an anthology series brought to viewers by the Bell System--the telephone folks. In "Alice's Wedding Gown" they bring an apparently true story to life...with mostly very compelling results.

The story begins at the Ventura School for Girls--a reform school for wayward young ladies. One of the inmates, Alice, is bright and will soon be ready to leave but she's also shy, withdrawn and prone to outbursts. In an attempt to pull her out of her shell, Mr. Cullen arranges for her to take a job at Marcos' Diner--a small mom and pop restaurant nearby. There she learns to love and trust others and begins coming out of her shell. However, when other jealous inmates make fun of her, she announces that not only is the job going great but she'll soon be getting married. Unexpectedly, the formerly nasty girls all begin to pull together to help Alice have a grand wedding. The problem is that Alice has a BIG secret...

The acting is very good in this and the script really tugs at your heart. It isn't perfect (the host is very old fashioned and kind of corny, for example) but all in all a likable episode that is available to watch for free at archive.org...a site often linked to IMDb pages. Oh, and if you do watch, note that the matron of the reform school is played by Fay Wray of "King Kong" fame.

Tale of a naive but compelling young woman.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 2 June 2016]

Fine drama here this story of a young female who spent a few years in a jail - I would say reform - school and then tries to make it once she is outside. So, as you see, that's not a WIP story. I guess that tale was inspired from a real story. Why not? The main female character is very interesting. This shy, gentle girl rapidly gets the empathy of the audience and everyone hopes the best for her. I guess this story tries to demonstrate that everyone can get better if he only tries to or believes in. But twenty four minutes are enough, because beyond this limit, I must confess that this would have been too cheesy for me. I repeat, that's not a woman in prison scheme, hard, tough, violent. No, it's after all a girls on probation story, mostly destined for female audiences. And I am surprised that Allen Miner did it. Not his style at all. This episode will provide good moments if you stay close to it.