The Trains of Silence

I randomly came across this on YouTube. I love psychological thrillers. I've never seen one that made me feel unsettled. I'm the same person who has the tolerance for UK crime dramas and some Scandinavian noir, so programs that contain disturbing elements, as long as there's mystery involved and the characters are fascinating, don't bother me. However, I found "The Trains of Silence" to be the weirdest thing I've watched in a really long time. It was bizarre and made no sense. I was perplexed the whole time. I had to make myself watch it to the end because my interest was waning (looking back, I should've just turned it off and watched something else because it was giving me the creeps). The acting was also pretty bad. Fred Girard (Jeffrey Hunter) is a geologist who lives in Vancouver, Canada. He goes to the US to visit a friend from college, Wolfe Hastings (Lloyd Bochner). Unbeknownst to Fred, Wolfe has been a recluse for years. Both his assistant Mark Wilton (Warren Stevens) and secretary Lee Anne Wickheimer (Tippi Hedren) do everything in their power to keep Fred away from Wolfe, and Fred almost gets killed trying to see him. The plot of this episode sounds so silly now that I've typed it out. I'm sure it looked just as ridiculous on paper back in 1965 as it does now on a computer or cell phone screen, so why people used the money and resources to make it into a TV episode is beyond me. I honestly have no desire to watch anything else from Kraft Suspense Theatre. I know you can't judge an anthology series based on 1 episode, but I can tell it's not on the same level as Alfred Hitchcock or Twilight Zone. This just wasn't my cup of tea.

Slightly nutty episode of this grand old anthology series has Jeffrey Hunter as a Canadian geologist visiting the states to see an old school chum (Lloyd Bochner) with some very good news. The old school chum is a Howard Hughes-type who lives in the penthouse of a hotel he owns. The geologist is rebuffed in his attempt to see his old chum, and a secretary for the company (Tippi Hedrin) tries to help him. Seems the sinister assistant (Warren Stevens) to the recluse has taken over the boss' daily concerns, and the naive geologist soon finds his life in peril as he persists in trying to see his old chum. A strange episode, to be sure, but entertaining, especially for Hunter's lively performance.

I have never seen an episode of "Kraft Suspense Theater" and I just stumbled upon this one while flipping around on YouTube. As I love anthology shows, I decided to give it a watch.

Jeffrey Hunter stars as Fred Girard--a guy who's come to see an old college chum named Wolfe. While he wasn't surprised to learn that his old friend was rich and powerful, he wasn't prepared for the reception he received. Instead of being welcomed, his staff do everything to drive Girard away. It's obvious they are hiding something and their reclusive boss wouldn't treat his old friend this way. In fact, they even make an attempt on his life! So what gives?! What's REALLY going on to his 'chum'?

This turned out to be a terrific show--so good I'd really love to see more episodes. Tense, very well acted and a really cool script.

I was grabbed immediately by this intriguing episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre, but unfortunately once it reveals the tale's secrets midway through it becomes a rather tame show. It's a shame because this story by Ben Maddow (the renowned writer of "The Asphalt Jungle" whose career was ruined by McCarthy-era blacklisting) has terrific elements.

This could have been fashioned into a solid film project for Orson Welles, as it deals with the search for an enigmatic "great man" played by Lloyd Bochner. Jeffrey Hunter, hiding behind a strange-looking pair of horn-rimmed glasses, he plays a geologist out to see his old college buddy of over a decade back, with a proposition to sell options to a Canadian parcel of land where he's discovered a rich lode of titanium (currently back in the news via the Apple iPhone).

After a meet cute in the hotel bar with Tippi Hedren, Hunter finds himself in a deadly situation revolving around his old friends, with many an odd detail, including Bochner's mania for recording and listening to sounds of trains (hence the title).

Unfortunately, William Wood's teleplay from Maddow's ingenious story runs out of gas -the more that's revealed about these characters and what's really going on, the less interesting the story becomes. It was assigned to journeyman TV director Douglas Heyes (whose only film I've enjoyed is the campy "Kitten with a Whip" shot the year before this show) and lacks any style, relying strictly on dialogue. Warren Stevens makes a smooth villain, but the ending is poorly staged and unsatisfactory.

***SPOILERS*** Traveling all the way from Vancouver Canada to see his old collage chum Wolfe Hastings, Llyod Bochner, geologist Fred Girard,Jeffery Hunter,is surprised to find out that Hastings isn't interesting in seeing him. In fact Hastings hasn't seen anyone outside of his #1 man Mark Wilton,Warren Stevens, for the last five years! As Girard soon finds out from Hastings' personal secretary Lee Anne Wickheimer, Tippy Hedren, that her boss has completely gone wacko and locked himself up in his 15th floor penthouse spending all his time listening to recordings of steam engine whistles as well as plane train and car crashes!

It turns out that the guy Wolfe Hastings is nuts all right and his loyal #1 man Mark Wilton is doing everything possible to make him even nuttier then he already is. So nuts that Hastings will soon end up in a mental institution with Wilton then taking over his vast empire of hotels train and ship lines as well as McDonald Burger King and Wendy's franchises. With Girard insisting to see his friend from collage Wolfe Hastings Wilton has his goons work him over and have a fifth of booze forced down his throat not only getting Girard dead drunk but in Wilton planning to have him dropped to the street below from Hastings' 15th floor penthouse! Thus making Girard's death look,in Girard being drunk and losing his balance, that he accidentally fell to his death after an evening of wild partying!

***SPOILERS***It's non other then Wolfe himself who rushes to his friend Girard's rescue dressed in what looks like a Ninja assassin outfit-minus the samurai sword- when he finally realizes what his #1 man, Mark Wilton, has planned for him. But it was really Lee Anne, who we soon find out is Wilton's kid sister, who by now is sick and tired of Wilton's crazy and deadly plans to get rich quick, by taking over Hastings holdings, who gets the police to rush to the Hasting penthouse and put the cuffs on her brother Mark Wilton and his goons. That's before they do any more damage, like getting someone killed or murdered, then they already did.