An attorney helps a client threatened by an unstable woman who blames her for a broken wedding engagement.An attorney helps a client threatened by an unstable woman who blames her for a broken wedding engagement.An attorney helps a client threatened by an unstable woman who blames her for a broken wedding engagement.
George DeNormand
- Man on Street
- (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey
- Man at Hotel Desk
- (uncredited)
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile not listed in Filming Locations, the fleeting shot (possibly stock footage) of the black and white car hurrying along a city street toward the "Vicente Hotel" was shot in San Francisco at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Kearny Street.
- ConnectionsRemade as Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Beast in View (1986)
Featured review
A good book made into a so-so TV show
I remember seeing this Alfred Hitchcock episode on its first broadcast when I was a kid, and I thought it was pretty disturbing. Seeing it again as an adult, I still think "Beast in View" is a great story (it's based on Margaret Millar's Edgar Award winning novel of the same title), but this TV adaptation is really not as good as it could/should have been, which is a shame. For one thing, the director makes some choices that telegraph the ending far too early (almost immediately, in fact), and for another, the casting of the principal roles is problematic. Joan Hackett is not awkward and plain enough for the main character Helen Clarvoe, a somewhat reclusive woman who is being stalked and harassed by someone from her past, while Kathleen Nolan, with her inexplicable southern accent, is not convincing, even in the flashbacks, as the "pretty" and bubbly Dorothy Johnson whom everyone seems to have preferred to Helen. As for Kevin McCarthy, his Paul Blackshear, the lawyer/investigator who serves as the stand-in for the audience, is a bit on the bland side, though truthfully he is not given much to work with script-wise. At least some supporting characters Blackshear encounters at a photographer's studio are entertainingly quirky, courtesy of actors George Furth, Peggy Moffitt (a well-known real life fashion model for designer Rudy Gernreich), and Anthony McBride.
A few effective moments of suspense do occur throughout, and the solution to the mystery will probably come as a genuine surprise to some viewers (it actually did to me the first time I saw it). But after the truth is revealed toward the end, there is a very strange (and dated-looking) special effects sequence which goes on for too long, ultimately leading to a very anti-climactic final moment (unlike the novel's ending, which is *much* darker). "Beast in View" is not one of the best Hitchcock episodes, but IMO the story is still good enough on its own merits to make it worth catching.
A few effective moments of suspense do occur throughout, and the solution to the mystery will probably come as a genuine surprise to some viewers (it actually did to me the first time I saw it). But after the truth is revealed toward the end, there is a very strange (and dated-looking) special effects sequence which goes on for too long, ultimately leading to a very anti-climactic final moment (unlike the novel's ending, which is *much* darker). "Beast in View" is not one of the best Hitchcock episodes, but IMO the story is still good enough on its own merits to make it worth catching.
helpful•22
- volare12
- Sep 3, 2020
Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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