Guilty Witness

When Mr. And Mrs. Crane hear the Verbers having a violent argument in the apartment just above them, and then Mr. Verber disappears the next day, they can't help suspecting the worst.

Solid thriller from beginning to end with a great build up that leads to a whopper of a finale that I didn't see coming. The focus was on whether the wife had really done away with her husband, and when truth was unravelled, the last revelation came right at the tail-end. It's a nifty entry that lends a good insight on 1950's life, the store, domestic and neighbourhood life.

This is a pretty pedestrian crime drama. It's about the frantic wife who hears a lot of violence going on in the upstairs apartment. He husband tells her to mind her own business, but then he becomes involved himself. The key to the whole thing is finding how a body would be disposed of. To modern viewers, this is a bit far fetched; at the time it was done, it was probably more believable, especially to a male dominated society (more male that is). Anyway, I believe this eventually evolves into a story about a person who is delusional. The acting is pretty believable. The final moment is pregnant with possibilities but the question is, "Why would someone bring suspicion to herself?" Or am I missing something?

I won't recap the story. Enough people have already done that.

My question was at the ending. Was Mrs.

Verber telling the truth, or was she merely hurling accusations? It was not clear-cut to me, especially given that the woman was an emotional and mental mess. And Mrs. Krane's reaction was not a great tell, either. I was asking myself if I had the ending all wrong. It was one time when the "surprise" ending really was a surprise for me, but only because I didn't get it. My partner said it was clear to him, so maybe I am just being dense on this one. I kept saying, "Is it really what Mrs.

Verber is saying it is, or is she a drunken paranoid spouting off?"

I may have to watch again, which I rarely have to do with Hitchcock.

It is difficult to resist anything with a title as attention grabbing as this one. The premise is also great and could easily pass for a plot for a Hitchcock film, can see why it's been compared to one of Hitchcock's best films 'Rear Window'. Another interest point is that "Guilty Witness" is the third episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' to be directed by series regular Robert Stevens, the other two being "Premonition" and "Our Cook's a Treasure". Both of them, especially the latter, being among Season 1's better episodes.

Did feel that "Guilty Witness" is not as good as those two and that it is not one of Stevens' best episodes (or one of his worst) or one of the best episodes of Season 1. It is though very good, though perhaps not for all tastes as some here have had issues with the story execution, and does generally very well with one of the season's most interesting sounding concepts. There is a lot to like about "Guilty Witness", almost all of them the usual good components, despite its imperfections.

Those imperfections being some suspension of disbelief needing in the final act, as some of it is on the silly and senseless side.

And that some of the character motivations came over as confused and vague, such as at the end. Can personally actually see why others were perplexed.

"Guilty Witness" has a lot of things done incredibly well. It is made with slickness and atmosphere, and manages to make a simple location interesting and not too confined. The music isn't over-powering or over-obvious and the theme tune for the series definitely haunts the mind. Hitchcock's bookending scenes have grown on me a good deal and while not among the best or most inspired they intrigue.

Much of the script does too and it doesn't ramble. The story is far from perfectly executed, but it is nicely paced and has genuine unease. Did find myself caring for finding out the truth and the final twist is a stroke of genius. The acting is very good, with a strong lead performance from Joe Mantell and a sympathetic one from Judith Evelyn.

Concluding, very good. 8/10.

Annoyed by the constant fighting of their next-door neighbors the Verbers Ben and Amelia (Ed Kemmer, Judith Evelyn), grocery story owners Stanley (Joe Mantell) and Dorothy Krane (Kathleen Maguire) become suspicious when they don't see the husband Ben for a few days. After overhearing a detective Sgt. Halloran (Robert F. Simon) say the man might have been murdered, Dorothy gets involved in the deadly case.

I swear I love these little stories, but, some of them defiantly haven't aged well over the years, I mean these were made 60+ years ago and society was a whole lot different back then then it is now. While the concept may have been a little more believable in 1955, its kinda ludicrous now. There's a twist here as usual and while I enjoyed it I'm not sure if I really understand it, Much like another reviewer stated I mean why would one of our main characters (I won't name any names to keep from spoiling anything) literally bring all this suspicion to themselves? I mean they are the one that got this whole thing going and you would think they would want to stay out of it, it order from being found out, who knows maybe I'm just missing the point here. It's still a nicely set up little episode that feels very "Rear Window" like at times, and Hitchcock's narratives with the hanging noise is fun as well. I'm just not sure If the character motivations here really match that of what is revealed in the twist.