Tue 26 Jan 2010
A TV Review by Mike Tooney: ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR “Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[6] Comments
“Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale.” An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (Season 2, Episode 6). First air date: 8 November 1963. Fess Parker, Gary Merrill, Phyllis Thaxter, George Furth, Burt Mustin, Sam Reese. Teleplay: Richard Levinson and William Link; screenplay: Robert Twohy based on his story in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (title and issue unknown). Director: Herschel Daugherty.
Mrs. Logan (Phyllis Thaxter), a widow living alone, is alarmed. From her upstairs bedroom window she has watched the suspicious behavior of her next door neighbor, Harry Jarvis (Gary Merrill), and feels it’s time to call in the authorities.
In this instance, “the authorities” consist of mild-mannered Sheriff Ben Wister (Fess Parker) and his semi-official and somewhat excitable deputy Charlie (George Furth).
Mrs. Logan details the late-night digging around she has seen Harry Jarvis doing, and concludes Jarvis has done in his wife and buried her in his backyard. The sheriff investigates as far as he can, but tells her that based on the evidence he has, Harry has done no wrong. Nevertheless, responding to Mrs. Logan’s urgings to DO something before this killer gets away with murder, he takes it upon himself to dig up Jarvis’s back yard, where he does find a body — but not the one he was expecting ….
This story is a clever variation on Hitchcock’s Rear Window, but if you’ve seen that film you’ll be at a disadvantage here because of preconceptions and expectations that you may have brought with you from the movie — and I think the screenwriters are clearly counting on that. (To say more would be to say too much.)
Among Gary Merrill’s crime/suspense screen credits are Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950), A Blueprint for Murder (1953), Witness to Murder (1954), and The Human Jungle (1954). He also commanded a bomber group in Twelve O’Clock High (1949) and was nearly eaten by a giant crab in Mysterious Island (1961).
Amiable Fess Parker’s screen persona usually led him to being cast as good guys — e.g., Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV — so he never had much of a chance at being a bad ’un.
Phyllis Thaxter was equally adept at being a victim, a perpetrator, or just the girl next door. She appeared in a noir Western, Blood on the Moon (1948); in Act of Violence (1948), Women’s Prison (1955), as well as in nine Alfred Hitchcock TV series episodes (is that a record?). She was also Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in Superman (1978).
Follow the link to Hulu to see why “Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale.”
January 26th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
George Furth had many movie, TV, and Broadway credits (including collaborations with Stephen Sondheim), but he was probably best remembered as the hapless express messenger Woodcock in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Thanks for the input, Fred. I have to confess that if you’d mentioned George Furth’s name to me yesterday, I wouldn’t have had a clue.
Here’s a link to his obituary, which runs through a whole lot more that he did in his life:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/theater/12furth.html
I’ve found a few photos of him online, and I could swear I never saw him before.
That’s a primary reason I love doing this blog. The things I learn!
— Steve
January 28th, 2010 at 6:27 am
This episode was excellent with some nice humor. Due to dvds being so widely available, Mike can review the show and I can watch it despite the fact that the episode first appeared on TV over 40 years ago. Hitchcock’s opening and ending comments remain funny, especially his attacks on commercials. Back then commercial breaks were alot shorter, sometimes only a minute. Now they are alot longer.
January 28th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I don’t watch much commercial TV, but I did see the first episode of HUMAN TARGET last week, the TV show based on the DC Comics character.
It was fun to watch, but I’m sorry, to see more, I’m going to wait for the DVD. I recorded it on DVR, so I was able to time the commercial breaks that I fast-forwarded through. Some of the breaks were 3 to 3 and a half minutes long.
What a clutter of absolute dreck! And with with commercials, logos and animated graphics on the screen, not to mention unmentionable reality shows, both network and cable TV stations are in a neck-to-neck race to the bottom.
As Wallker points out, thank goodness for DVDs, even if you have to buy the non-commercial ones to see everything you want.
(I fully realize that Walker and I, both of whom spend lots of money on our DVD collections, are not the kind of viewers that commercial TV wants.)
April 30th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
[…] already dealt with Gary Merrill’s criminous career. See “The Paragon” on Hulu here. […]
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:43 pm
[…] Many viewers remember him from his 14 appearances on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-66). He also showed up in “Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale,” reviewed here. […]