Nightmare in 4-D

Henry Jones stars in "Nightmare in 4-D"...a very disappointing episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". It started off well enough but then it lost its way and the ending...well...it seemed to come from left field and was hard to believe.

Harry Parker (Jones) is apparently an impressionable man...or so his wife (Virginia Gregg) says. In much of the first portion of the show, you really aren't sure whether it's real or a dream...and ONLY makes sense if it's a dream. You see, Henry recalls going into the neighbor lady's apartment and finding her...and a dead body. For no discernible reason, he helps her dispose of the body. Later, he learns that there really was a dead body and it wasn't a dream...so once again, WHY did he help the woman? Later, when there's an investigation, a detective pulls the solution to the crime out of thin ari with nothing to support it in any way. And so the episode ends.

The best review I see for this one gives it a 4, so the fact I disliked it strongly isn't a major surprise. It's just a poorly written episode and wastes some good acting talent. A confusing mess of a show.

I really enjoyed this episode and am at a total loss to understand the poor reviews and hate directed toward it in some of the other reviews here. A good story and a great cast including the very memorable Henry Jones (Harry Parker) Everybody knows his face, even if you can't remember his name, Virginia Gregg (Norma Parker) who appeared in all the 60's & 70's series, especially the ones produced by Jack Webb, and the very familiar face of Percy Helton (Charlie the building super) another character actor everybody recognizes but can't name. I especially liked watching Norman Lloyd (Police Lieutenant Orsatti) in his younger years. I really liked Norman Lloyd in the almost 50 episodes he appeared in, in the TV series 7 Days which aired over 30 years after this Alfred Hitchcock Presents Episode Nightmare in 4-D.

We're all used to watching for the "twist" at or near the end of each Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode and this delightful presentation of Nightmare in 4-D gives us not one single twist, but a double! Watch it and enjoy (I did and will again).

One of Hitchcock's favorite directors, Justus Addiss, and Henry Jones (an unforgettable actor) make a solid team in this dark comedy.

Jones portrays an average married man who watches too many tv mysteries. One night, his flirtatious neighbor ( Barbara Baxley) gets him involved in a real adventure involving a dead body -- lying around her apartment? That's all.

Obviously a wry variation of THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, with a touch of homicide to spruce things up. Not a bad idea, add some quirky music and both Jones and Baxley give it an interesting touch. In fact, Baxley specialized in offbeat roles and makes herself right at home. She was a natural. Virginia Gregg (from DRAGNET) plays Jones' down to earth wife. Look for Minerva Urecal, better known as the nightclub owner in PETER GUNN and Percy Helton, who specialized in playing nervous wrecks.

Fun to guess the ending, although there are other directions this could have went. Hitch should have re-did the story a few seasons later, even expanding it for his hour long tv series.

For movie buffs, Henry Jones appeared in VERTIGO for Hitchcock.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 16 remastered Universal dvd box set. 5 dvd set. Released 2005.

Realizing the low budgets and lack of consistent scripts, I'm generally pretty forgiving of these dramatic forays. This one, however, is lacking badly in just about every aspect. First of all, we are given almost no foundation for the motivations of the characters. We know that Jones is enamored with the sexy actress downstairs. We know he helped her dispose of a body in her apartment. We know the wife is kept knowledgeable of the whole business, so there isn't even anything secretive. So when Norman Lloyd shows up, he leaps to fantastic conclusions for which I was unprepared. The perpetrator had to be one of the principles in the episode. I still don't know what evidence the guy had to reach the conclusion. Other than a good cast, there's not much to work with. I found this one of the weakest of the series.

Really wanted to like "Nightmare in 4D" much more. The premise sort of intrigued, despite sounding like it could be silly later. 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' is a fascinating series with many fine episodes, as well as some not so good ones. Justus Addiss directed ten episodes for the series, some not great but others did impress me, did did like the previous three a good deal and it did sound like the sort of episode he could do well. So this did have potential.

Potential that is never really lived up to. Will agree that "Nightmare in 4D" starts off quite well, but rapidly goes downhill and quite badly. It has a few good things, such as the acting, but overall it is a bland, dull and far fetched episode. As far as Season 2 goes, "Nightmare in 4D" is definitely for me one of the weakest and when it comes to 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' overall it is also towards the bottom. Season 2 was uneven but did have some great episodes, but this is the anti-thesis of this.

"Nightmare in 4D" is not all bad. The best aspect is the acting, which is quite good all things considered. Henry Jones and Norman Lloyd are very good in their roles, Jones making a conceptually dull character much more interesting than deserved, and their dynamic together is delicious. Barbara Baxley makes much of relatively little, her role is underwritten but she is a far from bland presence.

The production values, while not exceptional, did have some atmosphere in particularly the way it's shot. Hitchcock's bookending is typically ironic while the theme tune for the series is suitably macabre. The episode does start off well, with some nice intrigue and subtle tension.

However, a lot doesn't work. The story is hugely flawed and at worst a mess. Too much of the time it's pedestrian in pace, suffers badly from a lack of tension and suspense from too much predictability, can be very confusing from too much being too vague and it gets ridiculous in the latter stages. The ending is not believable for a milli-second and even for an episode with a lot of ridiculousness and implausibility it's one of the more far fetched endings of the season.

Despite the efforts of Jones, Lloyd and Baxley, the characters are not very well fleshed out at all, and their motivations are vague at best and at worst downright confusing or not given. Some truly silly character behaviour going on where it is easy to question the character's intelligence. The script lacks tautness and can be too talk heavy. Addiss' direction is disappointingly uninspired.

Overall, very underwhelming episode that fails in too many important categories. 4/10.