The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) The Evil of Adelaide Winters (1964) User Reviews

Adelaide is evil...no doubt about that!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 20 May 2021]

Adelaide (Kim Hunter) truly IS evil. She is a phony psychic but even worse, she preys upon the families of dead soldiers from the war! These people want hope...she gives them lies and takes their money. Truly, she is a leech...and you can't help but despise this awful woman. Fortunately, she gets her just due in the end!

This is a very good episode....one that is even more satisfying since there are folks like this that really do prey upon others and their grief. Well crafted and one that ends wonderfully.

By the way, this is supposed to occur during WWII. However, the clothing and fashions are strictly 1964. It's really a shame the folks who made the show didn't even bother to try to replicate the look of the era.

There's nothing to be afraid of now

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 14 April 2012]

***SPOILERS*** It's June 1944 the hight of WWII and thousands of US servicemen are getting killed as well as missing in action in the fighting that's raging across the European and Pacific Theaters of war. It's con artist and phony medium Adelaide Winters,Kim Hunter, and her partner Robert McBain, Gene Lyons, who are making a mint in conning the loved ones of those fallen and missing in action servicemen into thinking that they can get in touch with their departing souls and getting rich by doing it.

Checking out the casualties list of the local newspapers both Adelaide & McBain come across the name of USAAF pilot John Porter who's missing in action where his plane was lost over France during the D-Day invasion. Seeing that John's dad Edward Porter,John Lrakin, lives in the rich part of town Adelaide tries to get in touch as well as con him out of his money in telling the widower that she can somehow pick up his son's John, if he's in fact dead, vibes from the other side. At first skeptical of what Adelaide is telling him, that she can somehow contact the dead, Larkin soon becomes a true believer with the elaborate sound system,imitating or faking John's voice, that her partner in crime Robert McBlain secretly set up in the Larkin Mansion!

Adelaide does such a good job in fooling Larkin into thinking that she can contact his dead son that he falls in love with her and wants her to be his wife in order to keep the family,Larkin & Son, together! This spells disaster in Adelaide's partner Robert McBain mind knowing that she's headed into dangerous ground with Larkin quickly losing his grip on reality and her taking full advantage of it!

***SPOILERS*** Now fully believing in the after-life Larkin wants to join his beloved son, as well as first wife,in the world beyond and what's to take Adelaide along with him: If you know what I mean! Finally seeing what her partner Robert McBain told her that she went too far in convincing Larkin that there's life after death Adelaide now tries to convince the by now crazed and deranged madman that the whole thing about his son John contacting him, through her, was all a joke or fraud. But by then there was no turning around with Larkin determined to join his son John as well as take her the future Mrs.Edward Larkin, as well as John's step-mom, along with him!

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 21 November 2022]

Bad enough a phony con artist scams innocent people with their 'astral telepathy' act, but this one, Adelaide Winters (Kim Hunter), searches out the parents of dead and missing in action soldiers during World War II, and plays upon their emotions to 'contact' the spirit of loved ones on the other side. Technically, Winters and her doting assistant McBain (Gene Lyons) prefer to go for MIA's, but when McBain contacts Edward Porter (John Larkin) posing as a representative from the War Department, the news offered is that his air pilot son died during the D-Day invasion. At first skeptical, Porter is convinced by Winters that there's hope of reaching son John, and that the father owes it to his son to find out if he rests peacefully following his combat death. Porter becomes so convinced that his son's 'messages' are real, that he tries to persuade Winters to make him her exclusive client, willing to pay any price to employ her services on a full time basis. Seeing Porter's bottomless pool of wealth, Winters agrees to move in to Porter's home, bringing her now disgusted aide McBain along, who always had it in his mind that the two of them would marry.

Well, this story took a turn I wasn't expecting, Winters driving Porter so far over the edge that he wants the two of them to join his son in the great beyond! Not exactly the kind of rational move that any other client would have come up with if I had to guess. Frantically trying to convince Porter that she was pulling a major scam on him the entire time, he's so wrapped up in his delusion that he carries out his murder/suicide plan to an unenviable conclusion. For this viewer, I thought a better resolution to the story would have been for John Porter to show up as a wounded warrior on leave, sent home to recuperate before rejoining the war effort. At which point Mr. Porter could have dealt with the phony psychic by confronting her evil racket head on. At least then, one of them would still be alive.

plays like a feature film, memorable moments.

[HEFILM · 10/10 · 4 July 2013]

It's not structured or paced like a TV show which I guess might make it less exciting and typical for this series but those, I think are assets. The stand out performance and writing is of the GI father's character and Kim Hunter is terrific as well. There is one montage scene of a boat on the ocean that is beautiful and suggestive of the powers of belief/memory it's really startlingly good. The director Laszlo Benedick is under-rated and does one of his many good jobs with this borderline horror/ noirish show.

This montage and maybe the whole episode is simple in terms of elements but perfectly done. The final sequence is also very well done with a couple of beautiful and haunting dolly shots leading to the memorable final. The show could go in several directions but the one it does go in is the most powerful.

The show is well tracked with music from other episodes and really does suggest the power of loss and of suggestion. The tension builds as the characters and story deepens, lots of nice touches all around.

Also features one of the best sight gag Hitchcock wrap around segments of the whole series. You won't even be sure of how they did it. It's not the funniest wrap around, but visually the opening shot of Hitch is unforgettable.

A completely new outlook on the old séance subject

[binapiraeus · 9/10 · 11 August 2014]

This episode of the "Hitchcock Hour" certainly is unusual in MANY aspects: it revives the old subject of séances and mediums that had lost its popularity at least 20 years ago - and it gives a WHOLE new touch to it, like only Hitch knew how...

We know from the beginning that the 'evil' Adelaide Winters is simply another one of those con artists, playing the medium with great talent and success in order to 'help' grieving widows and parents communicate with their husbands or sons who died in the War (the episode is set in 1944); she feels, although she's collecting quite a good share of money from her 'séances', that she's really helping those people overcome their grief. And then she offers her services to a rich widower whose son has been reported missing - with the aim, of course, to marry him and his fortune; much to the anger of her jealous assistant and lover. BUT as the séances go on and become more and more realistic, the whole affair takes a TOTALLY different and unexpected turn...

Throughout those 50 minutes of running time, you'll hardly be able to take a breath - the atmosphere is so dense and danger literally in the air, and the performances are simply great; with first and foremost, of course, Kim Hunter in the title role. Of all the episodes of the "Hitchcock Hour" that I've seen so far, this is surely one of the best and most suspenseful!

Mixed Result

[dougdoepke · 5 January 2016]

Adelaide (Hunter) is a calculating little phony with a spiritualist con-game. Worse, she scans newspapers for men listed as MIA's during WWII. Then she contacts bereaved families and sets up spirit contact sessions. And that's after her confederate Robert (Lyons) poses as a war department official telling families their loved one is dead. It's a particularly nasty rip-off and a long way from Hunter's gamin roles of the 40's.

The acting's first-rate, while the séance sessions are imaginative. However, given the preternatural subject matter, the filming lacks needed atmosphere that would have unified an often patchy screenplay. No one in the screenplay appears in particular danger, so the premise generates more interest than suspense. But the characters are vividly drawn so the audience is rapidly drawn in. The screenplay is spotty at times— e.g. did wealthy Edward (Larkin) marry Adelaide or not. Nonetheless, the upshot's deliciously ironic and well worthy of the series trademark.

A Matter Of Life After Death Fraud By Zira

[darrenpearce111 · 9/10 · 18 August 2017]

The most enjoyable aspect of the show is the chance to see more of many wonderful actresses - in this case Kim Hunter. This really is a showcase for her ability to draw you into a drama a carry it superbly. She seems unstoppable in her plans. This being a straighter story than so many of the highly implausible tangled webs of some others is another reason to like this entry.

Stella! Stella! A Treat To See You in Main Role

[poetcomic1 · 8/10 · 7 July 2020]

Kim Hunter, best known for Streetcar Named Desire plays a classic sub-genre of noir - the phony medium racket. I was expecting the 'missing' son to pop in the door but expecting that (along with other viwers) means it wouldn't REALLY be a surprise anyway would it?

If you watch closely, Kim's most interesting moments are at the end as she desperately tries to sell herself as a fraud and her client REFUSES to believe! That was actually much more interesting than some mechanical son popping up.

Gene Lyons (all Star Trek fans will remember him) really gives a lot of authentic intensity to the part.

Well Done

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 20 May 2023]

Kim Hunter, one of our great actresses, plays a scamming medium who lures in the parents of soldiers, missing in action, so they can speak once more with their children. She has no scruples whatsoever. She is pure evil. But this is tightrope she is walking. She finally goes far enough where she meets a man with a fragile psyche who sees her as his soulmate and creates a connection that overrides the con game she is playing. Her associate warns her that she is asking for trouble, but she doesn't listen to him. He has taught her everything he knows and she treats him like a slave. Kim Hunter pulls off a great performance as one of the nastiest, manipulative people you will ever see.