Suspense (TV Series) Goodbye New York (1949) User Reviews

Shaggy-dog story

[lor_ · 18 February 2024]

Meg Mundy, later to become a soap opera regular, does an outstadinng job holding this show together. The rest of the cast has familiar faces (Gage Clarke and Ray Walston in small roles), but it's basically a one-woman show.

She's the wife of a schlump named Ray, introduced in flashback when she gets home and finds him unconscious, attempting suicide by turning the gas oven on. They're broke, with the building manager pestering Meg for back rent, threatening to throw them out. Hubby owes $500, has no job, and his ex-boss has blackballed him so that no one in New York will hire him.

Most of the action unfolds in flashback, with some solid Manhattan locations for atmosphere. Key element is that she keeps seeing a mysterious man, who also pesters her, played by Gage, a very familiar B movie veteran.

Mood is consistently downbeat, but while her husband's character is a pathetic loser, who murders his boss along the way, Meg must be the tower of strength, persevering so they can escape NY by a train out of Grand Central Station. Her paranoia, emphasized by her thoughts expressed in voiceover, escalates.

This one has a sudden ending, making the whole matter a shaggy-dog story, my least favorite type of drama (or comedy for that matter). Also, the credits are unforgably skimpy: even a central role like that of her husband goes uncredited. (Similarly, the writing credit is absent, just listing the story by Cornell Woolrich.)

fast paced authentic Woolrich feeling

[HEFILM · 9/10 · 23 August 2019]

Though done live and in studio this manages to have momentum and stay true to the feel and story by Cornel Woolrich. It's a story where people are trapped in a bad situation that their attempts to escape from just keeps making worse.

Intense performances and fast pace make it all work.

This episode doesn't hold a candle to the radio series

[theseekerhp · 3/10 · 11 January 2022]

This episode functioned as a pilot for the series that began a month or so later. And despite what another reviewer states here on IMDB, it is a filmed performance (when it went to series, it was shot live). I haven't seen any other episodes of the Suspense TV series, but as a lover of the radio series that it's based on, I sure hope it got better. Also, I haven't seen a lot of embryonic 1940s television, but it seems to me that there were better things to be seen even then. But these pioneers were still trying to figure out what worked.

The issue is that for a series named Suspense, there is none of it. Basically the story relies on encounters with strangers to create the suspense, because the main characters fear that those strangers might know about their crime. But instead of using those characters to build tension, they pretty immediately make it clear that those characters aren't any kind of threat. The climax, which is intended as a mild twist, is just silly and completely falls flat; if you were paying attention, you had already figured it out.

Ultimately, this episode is of interest only as a curiosity for fans of the radio series, or for those interested in early TV.

First-Rate First Show

[dougdoepke · 10 January 2021]

Excellent performance from actress Mundy carries the entry. She's all nervous energy and darting eyes. So where will hubby get money to keep them afloat and in their shabby apartment. Good thing their bonding amounts to more than just being married. But who is that sinister stranger trailing them as they flee the city. That opening scene of Mundy alone in a passenger car is a grabber that sets the stage, along with some good touches such as the rollerskating girl down a NY city street or the guy grabbing someone else's newspaper. But then such quality could be expected from the likes of radio writer Woolrich and Hitchcock TV director Stevens. Nonetheless, production date is Jan., 1949, the very earliest days of TV, so I wasn't expecting anything as accomplished as this ace production. My only, complaint is the very last shot. But even with it, a high quality new show has clearly premiered.