Body in the Barn

The Body In the Barn is a genteel entry of the Hitchcock hour and features, as another reviewer noted, a pitch perfect performance by Lillian Gish as a sick old biddy whose prying ways cause a lot of trouble in her sleepy, woodsy community when the body of a local working man is found in a barn.

The Hitchcock hours tend to fall into different categories. Some have comic undertones. This one doesn't. Quite a few are either outright horror tales or feature suspense ratcheted up to such a level that they may as well be horrors. Body In the Barn doesn't have that level of intensity. There are rural episodes and urban ones. And some feature people who possess a measure of refinement and education that allows for easy identification for the sophisticated viewer. Body definitely falls into that category. Another somewhat looser category is that of the domestic episode about people who know each other quite well, who either lives under the same roof or are close neighbors. This one is of the domestic variety.

I found Body In the Barn more a good character study than a strong story, featuring very good actors, not especially suspenseful or dramatically compelling. The characters are strong but the plot isn't. It held my interest yet failed to engage my sympathies. The good manners of the principals, some slightly better than average dialog and decent plot twists kept me watching till the end. It was pretty much Miss Gish's show, though it also features good work from Maggie McNamara, Kent Smith and, especially, Peter Lind Hayes. With a lesser player in the lead it would merely average.

The great Lillian Gish, one of the legends of the silent screen, was a superlative actress throughout her life. This fantastic episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR from 1963 showcases Miss Lillian as good as anything she ever did in the sound film era. Miss Gish stars as a cranky, nosy old gal in ill health who has long feuded with her neighbor and blames her for the death of an elderly man who plummeted off a cliff thanks to a fence the neighbor put up. Lillian's niece Maggie McNamara lives with her in her large farmhouse and Maggie tries to make peace with the neighbors, particularly with the woman's mild mannered hen-pecked husband Peter Lind Hays. Gossip-loving Lil takes in all of Peter's private confidences to Maggie, that his wife once attempted to murder him and he fears she will try again should he ever leave her. And when Peter shows up missing and the days turn into weeks and months and the woman refuses to give any information about his whereabouts, Lillian is convinced after spying on the woman with binoculars that something fishy is going on at her barn.

This fantastic mystery/suspense has echoes of REAR WINDOW - and HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, although the latter film hadn't even been made yet - and Miss Gish is simply superb in this film, cast against type as a not always very likable woman. The whole cast is good but this is Lillian's show. "Body in the Barn" is one of THE ALFRED HITCHOCK HOUR's finest hours.

Lillian Gish is delightful to watch any time, but this storyline was so absurd, it ruined the experience. I really don't want to get into spoilers, so let's just say that the way the justice system is portrayed is rather more like how a sixth grader perceives it than anything actually related to reality. It was so far off base, it totally ruined the concept of "willing suspension of disbelief" for me. By far, one of the worst of the Alfred Hithcock Hour presentations--in fact, a good argument could be made that it is the all-time worst. Worth watching for Lillian Gish, but nothing else.

I agree with the last reviewer, there is so much material, this clever story could have been a tv movie. A fascinating whodunit starring legendary Lillian Gish (as Bessie) who suspects something's up with her neighbor. Possibly murder? It may remind you of an Agatha Christie or a Miss Marple mystery; Gish playing a spinster with a very suspicious eye.

She is complimented by the likes of veteran Kent Smith, playing the country doctor. He is best remembered for the noir-ish soap opera NORA PRENTISS for(1947), opposite Ann Sheriden. Gish, of course, had a career that topped most everyone in Hollywood, working for director DW Griffith in the early days of motion pictures as a teenager. One of a handful of actresses from silent films to cross into sound films and then tv, matched by Gloria Swanson. Her beautiful sister Dorothy was also an accomplished actress.

The final screen appearance of Maggie McNamara (who died far too young) and in a very good role as Camilla. Maggie guested in THE CARDINAL for Otto Preminger prior to this part, along with Gish's sister. Based on a story by Margaret Manners, who wrote many mysteries for Hitch.

PS: Listen to the rich violins, the music takes on a real creepy feel. Not to be missed. SEASON 2 EPISODE 32. CBS dvd box set.

First of all, the performance by Lillian Gish is excellent. She made the transition from D. W. Griffith to the modern screen beautifully. As others have said, however, the believability of the plot and the justice system's treatment of people is pretty ridiculous. To make such assumptions about the body in the barn with such flimsy, possibly planted evidence would lead to someone's execution is a monumental stretch. We know how rare executions are. Then off goes that wimpy jerk, returning after his wife has died for his supposed murder, getting sympathy from everyone. And then, how did they prove he was responsible for the old gal's death, also getting him executed? It's all about revenge, of course. An eye for an eye. We are left with the note where someone is in for quite the surprise.