And So Died Riabouchinska

Detective Krovitch ( a young Charles Bronson) investigates a murder at a run-down vaudeville theater and gets a hot lead from the ventriloquist's dummy. An interesting and tragic story that boasts a great performance from Claude Rains. He plays a ventriloquist who is quite troubled and is obsessed by the dummy who resembles his previous lover. Most likely he has a split personality but it sometimes feels like it's speaking, like the spirit of his lover is inside the dummy. Bronson puts in a fine performance as the detective trying to make a sense of all of this.

This episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" features an interesting Ray Bradbury story of murder and psychology, plus a fine performance by Claude Rains. The theater setting and the troubled main character make it a very good fit for the series, and the story is adapted efficiently into the show's format.

The story starts with a murder at a theater, with the investigation centering around Fabian, a ventriloquist played by Rains. Fabian displays an excessive attachment to his female dummy ('Riabouchinska'), and it quickly becomes obvious that he has something verging on a split personality, speaking truthfully only through the dummy. It's a weird and intriguing situation, and it is also interesting to see a young Charles Bronson as the detective who has to make sense of it all.

Bradbury's imaginative and thought-provoking stories do not necessarily lend themselves easily to screen adaptations, but this one overcomes the challenges pretty well. Rains has just the right approach and screen persona to make the challenging character work convincingly, and in particular it is worth watching him closely during the scenes when the dummy 'talks'. The somber story and the disturbed central character fit together well.

Besides the exquisite pleasure to have Claude Rains and Charles Bronson in the same time, the Claude Rains' character reminded me his in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, 1942 version, though not the same plot. But Rains was perfect in this character, and the dummy element also reminds me some TWILIGHT ZONE episodes speaking of dummies. Here, the plot is pretty sophisticated and smart, and the ending is not that twisted. Precisely because the story is so riveting, like a rollercoaster. If the story had been flat, of course the ending would have been more "shocking". It could have been made for the big screen.

A detective is called to a backstage theatre after a body is discovered in the cellar. His investigation takes him into the weird world of an aging ventriloquist and his female dummy.

Another memorable episode from that marvelous first year. And what a casting coup thanks to the producers and probably the Hitchcock name—it's a subtly persuasive Claude Rains, a distinctive looking Charles Bronson, and a strangely sultry ventriloquist's dummy. Then too, I knew I was in trouble when I went looking for the dummy's name in the credit-roll. Seems ventriloquist Fabian (Rains) is having the same problem since his truth-telling super-ego is splitting off and entering the lovely dummy. Sometimes it's even hard to know who's doing the talking.

Okay, you've likely seen this "live" dummy premise before. But it's very well done here, thanks mainly to Rains who refuses to go over the top. Also, Bronson, as a cop, gets lots of close- ups, the camera seemingly fascinated with his unusual features. That's likely no accident since an ordinary looking cop would not fit the exotic theme nearly as well. Anyway, it's a subtly weird slice of abnormal psychology, along with a fine screenplay from noir veteran Mel Dinelli.

A.H. intro talking about a ectoplasm and phenomenon psychic to explain this haunting episode that brings the legendary Claude Rains to main role as John Fabian as an old ventriloquist in another Ray Bradbury story, due a murder that took place at theatre and dully scrutinized by the tireless Det. Krovitch (Charles Bronson), all clues lead to believe in crime of passion, on account of Fabian's wife Alice has a hidden affair with his manager Mel Douglas, after exhaustive research Krovitch keeps focused on Fabian when enters in the scene the female dummy Riabouchinska who seemingly spoke by herself, for the distress and the unflagging Krovitch who warns Fabian to stop misleading him over the dummy speaking, however the bewildered Detective starts realizing that Riabouchinska has her own personality and also has an inconceivable love affair with Fabian, as mooted by Hitchcock in early submission, this unusual case of reincarnation gets shape in the course of time and allowing us an unprecedented ending, I've already watched many Ray Bradbury's novel took the screen on several movie's adaptation, nonetheless baffled me such higher number of them, indeed a true prolific writer, don't you???

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First watch: 2021 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5