Guilty Witness

I won't say much about this show since I do not want to give anything away. All I will say is it is that the running time of the play is close to 22 minutes (taking out two minutes for Hitchcock's beginning and ending) and for most of the 22 minutes the play was a routine situation that has been played out many times on TV, movies and live plays. What makes this different and memorable from the rest is the last fifteen seconds of the play. Again, I did not see it coming.-- Nice watch since is something I will remember for a long time.

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.

Yes, folks, another excellent and unusual plot about which the end is the most impressive. The ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS series trademark. The basic scheme, plot, is not that new, of course, but it is riveting for the audiences. The disappearance of someone, a missing person is enough to rivet you, especially in such an anthology show. And it propoes characters in whom many folks could recognize themselves. And maybe those same folks will not see their neighbours the same way after watching this episode. I recommend this episode, it is a pretty good one. There had been far worse in this anthology show, believe me.

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?

The episode is shown from the viewpoint of a grocer and his wife. Often, they can hear the upstairs neighbors arguing and fighting...but the husband keeps telling his wife that they should mind their own business. However, one of the fights ends very abruptly...so abruptly that the wife thinks one of the fighting neighbors was killed. At first, the husband STILL insists they mind their business...but after a while, he, too, is concerned...concerned enough to talk to the police.

The ending was mildly interesting...but otherwise the show was just okay...and the twist, though interesting, wasn't amazing either. Not a must-see episode...but one worth seeing.