Toby

I know that my comments sometimes go over the same ground. With the pressure of producing so many of these little stories, there is going to be a clinker in the lot. A lonely man who left his only love is about to get her back. He is scared and apprehensive and unsure. He banters with the local characters and sets up shop for her reappearance. Apparently, a personal ad leads to their reunion. They are going to be married. The woman finally shows up and she is pretty strange. She has a baby with her. It is supposedly the son (Toby) of her now deceased sister. She immediately puts him in a spare bedroom and that's where he stays. She occasionally gets a baby bottle of warm milk to give to little Toby. Weeks pass and nobody sees the baby. This gets so far fetched that at some point we say "Right!" I had it figured out about five minutes after she appeared. Still, Jessica Tandy being the consummate actress, really hams it up and does what she can with this clinker.

Except for Broadway star Tandy, it's a great line-up of supporting players from that TV period. For example, catch the colorful two-some (Mathews & Corby) from lower-class heck. I guess they won't be dining with the queen any time soon. Then there's lanky, hawk-nosed Mary Wickes as a Gen. Patton landlady not to fool with. And what's the deal with middle-aged Tandy and Harris. They're getting back together after years apart. Seems like neither gave up a longing for the other. So why then did they part. But now she's got her dead sister's baby, Toby, to care for. Yet Harris doesn't mind, even if no one gets a chance to see the kid kept hidden in its blanket bundle. Besides, Tandy flies off the handle at unexpected times, leaving poor Harris confused and forlorn.

Of course, suspense builds around the unseen Toby and the baby's unpredictable step-mom. But it's really a human-interest tale embodied by Harris's affecting turn. Good to see a story revolve around a homely guy's feelings for a change, especially in the glamour obsessed 1950's. Can't say much for the payoff, however. It's not very plausible if you think about it. Considering the 'rose' symbolism that's gone before, maybe it's supposed to be symbolic of bad luck. Anyhow, the entry's a good chance to catch unsung Hollywood at its colorful and affecting best.

In a series such as this, not every episode hits the spot, and this is one of those.

A new tenant (Edwina, Jessica Tandy) arrives in an unsalubrious New York apartment block, and back into the life of one of the tenants (Albert, Robert Harris) after 20 years. But what is she hiding?

The supporting cast are good throughout - they set the scene very well, play likable characters and also provide the main impetus that moves the plot along, but the problem is really with the script. We aren't given enough insight into either of the main characters. Although we can sympathise with Albert, there is nothing perilous or threatening to provide tension. We never get to see things from Edwina's point of view, so it's difficult to care about her either.

As for the final revelation, I'm afraid that this was one of the two I'd considered from early on, so was a bit of a let-down.

All in all, not a completely unenjoyable ride, but definitely one of the lesser offerings in a great series.

Hitch gave a hint in his introduction of the episode warm up baby bottle, exposing a bit of morbidity about to come when a mid-age bachelor Albert Birch (Robert H Harris) thru an adds on newspaper finds out his old girlfriend Edwina (Jessica Tandy) which invites her to live with him for a future marriage, turns out that the old lady brings a baby named Toby, on what Albert asking her if was married before, Edwina answer she never was, the baby is gave to her due his sister and husband died on car's accident, henceforth she got the right to raise the little one, relieving the already worried Albert.

Although something suspicious comes across due Edwina never allowed Albert to see Toby whatsoever, such odd things arouse inkling on Albert, worst to trying give a kiss at Edwina's face she becomes furious without any fair explanation, the upstairs neighbors also perceive her bitterness behavior, Albert often was called to warm up a milk to Toby, nonetheless the baby feeding in done on closed door, then things going bad when the comes to surface soon.

Jessica Tandy is a fabulous actress on these kind of role as Edwina surely mentally ill, we can envisage her on "Driving Miss Daisy" as stubborn lady, another high point is Robert H Harris in a convincing performance as heartbroken man, simply great.

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First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25.

Robert H. Harris returns for what is his fourth appearance so far in this series to play a kindly book keeper who is excited by the fact that a long lost love from his past is finally returning to him. They finally meet and reconcile, but, she's defiantly an odd one, and keeping what is said to be the baby of her deceased sister locked in a room for no one to see. The cast makes this pretty sad entry enjoyable you have Harris, character actors George Mathews, Ellen Corby, and Mary Wickes. The best however is the frantic performance from Jessica Tandy.