Don't Interrupt

This is certainly a weak episode. The characters are so unlikeable that everything they do is annoying. Start with the snotty little kid in the 1950's cowboy outfit. He pretends to shoot old ladies and sneaks into people's compartments. He has apparently been thrown out of a private school because he won't stop talking. The parents are a couple gems. The mother, played by a very young Cloris Leachman, is so intolerant and unkind. The father is a feckless dinglejolly who sounds so weak when he tries to handle his son. Along comes Chill Wills, who has played a cowboy or two in his time. He fascinates the boy and gets him to listen. The question the kid asks are quite natural, but the mother wants to sit in her fox wrap and file her nail, only piping in to keep the kid quiet. Throw into this the announced threat of an escaped mental patient that occupies the kid's mind and you have the whole thing. The problem is, the kid has been given a silver dollar that he can keep if he doesn't talk. Well, of course, he knows something, but the problem is he can't say a word. It could have been OK but is just so dull.

"Don't Interrupt" did actually sound quite intriguing. Robert Stevens did do some very good and more episodes for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', there were disappointments such as "Toby", "Shopping for Death" and particularly "The Hidden Thing" as far as previous episodes. But they were far outweighed by excellence such as "Our Cook's a Treasure", "One for the Road", "The Glass Eye", "Heart of Gold" and "The Motive". Have also loved Cloris Leachman since her magnificent performance in 'The Last Picture Show'.

Unfortunately "Don't Interrupt" was a big disappointment in nearly every area. Very sad to see Season 4 go so quickly from one of its best episodes (and one of my favourite 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes) "Poison" to a very strong contender for its worst in "Don't Interrupt". It is Stevens' worst along with "The Hidden Thing" (not entirely sure which is worse of the two), the worst 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode since "Sylvia" and one of my least favourite outings of the entire series.

There are a few good things. Leachman does valiant work in her role and does perform with the right amount of intensity. Hitchcock's bookending is typically droll and where the episode is easily at its most interesting.

It looks quite nice and moody in the photography and the theme music is classic.

However, so many things are poorly done. The pacing is very dull with no tautness at all, which made the episode feel very dragged out and flimsy. The very thin story badly suffers from a complete lack of suspense or any kind of atmosphere and even more so from next to nothing not making sense. The ending leaves more perplexed questions than answers, with a very anti-climactic feel too.

Stevens' heart to me was clearly not in it, even "The Hidden Thing" didn't have direction this leaden and going through the motions-like. The production values are on the whole cheap, while the rest of the cast overact to overwrought melodrama level. "Don't Interrupt's" very close second biggest failure, first being everything in the story, is the excessive unlikeability of all the very one dimensional characters that are absolutely impossible to root for. A big problem for a story where one is clearly supposed to. The boy agreed is especially true to this, truly irritating.

Overall, very weak. 3/10.

This story over the years has fascinated as many viewers as it has annoyed them. Lay most of the blame on young Johnny Templeton (Peter Lazer), a kid travelling with his parents (Biff McGuire and Cloris Leachman) on a train trip in the southwest and never giving up. He makes lots of noise, getting on everyone's nerves.

There's also a blizzard going on as the train passes through New Mexico and the news bulletin of an escaped mental patient? Enter Chill Wills (the star here) playing Mr. Kilmer who has lead an adventurous life, obviously attracting Johnny. Both characters love to talk the talk, however Johnny is told by mom and dad to pipe down, and there's a handsome sillver dollar in it for him if he keeps quiet... OK?

The turning point is seeing a man clawing at the window, helpless in the snowstorm, about to die -- and Johnny NOT saying a word.

Two observations; We never get to know who the man was. Could he have been the patient? Or Kilmer's victim? A valid point. One thing is the money meant more to Johnny than life itself, and having much in common (psychologically) with Kilmer if he was the killer.

Lots of take-aways here, though I give it 8 Stars for the Stars. An early and very good role for Cloris Leachman (who passed in 2021) and western side-kick Chill Wills, who at the time was the famous voice of Francis, the Talking Mule, forerunner of MISTER ED. Child actor Peter Lazer did a second episode for Hitch, turning up in many tv dramas.

Look for Jack Mulhall as the conductor, a star in silent films, and comedian, singer and musican Scatman (Benjamin) Crothers, in an early role.

FYI; In a few years author Sidney Carroll would write THE HUSTLER for Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 2 remastered dvd box set. All seven seasons are now on dvd in a single box set. Released 2022. The perfect gift for Hitch buffs.

Seeing Mrs. Templeton makes me think of somebody blaming a dog for barking all the time. It's a dog, were you hoping the dog would be mute?

Anyway, our story involves a mother, father and son on a train. Tensions are high because the son had been kicked out of school. Here's the thing, I didn't look at the son and think he was a brat or a demon. Overall he seemed like a talkative kid. He might play an innocent trick here or there...he swapped out his mother's alcoholic drink for his glass of milk and his mother took a swig of milk instead of her own drink. It's stuff like that.

The father is somewhat better. He at least seems to care for his son but not so far as to stand up for him against a mother that clearly doesn't like her own kid.

Anyway, the family is on a train and are approached by Mr. Kilmer. Judging by the story he ends up telling the family, I'd say he also likes to talk. While our story is going on, there's talk of a mentally ill man escaping from a nearby facility and it's told the man isn't dangerous, he just needs help.

The son has been interrupting and the father says he'll give him a silver dollar if he can remain silent for a certain time period. Well, you can pretty much guess what happens. The train has stopped while Mr. Kilmer's telling his story but the son notices a man outside in the snow. He keeps trying to get attention but the son is caught between a rock and a hard place because everytime he tries to speak up to say there's a man outside in the freezing snow, he's shushed. Nobody wants to listen to the kid. The train starts up again and leaves the man behind to freeze in the snow. He tries to tell even after the train started moving that there was a man back there but he's still being disregarded. The son is given his silver dollar and he puts it on a loop on his pants? Of course the silver dollar falls out of the loop. It was such a strange move. The kid didn't strike me as being dumb so I wish they had him putting the silver dollar in his pocket and it falls out because he had a hole in his pocket and didn't notice. Some train employees are talking to the child before he goes off to bed and one of the employees sees the dollar fall and he picks it up for himself. The kid will get another dollar from his old man. What does a dollar mean to a kid anyway? Episode ends.

I thoroughly enjoyed the episode but I still say the real problem going on was the mother instead of the son.

This episode was a different angle for the series and addressed the effects of Reward Based Parenting, a lack of respect for a child and the lack of enthusiasm to parent, on a young boy. It addresses the importance of structuring a child's morality code as well as addressing how necessary it is for parents to understand children and their "phases". And overall explains how "it takes a village to raise a child", while presenting all the characters as different features of adults raised in different ways. It utilizes money to explain how a value code is formed in the individual, and ultimately by different people collectively. It is an important message for all generations and socioeconomic statuses.