"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour"
Beast in View (1964)

Director:

Joseph M. Newman

Writers:

James Bridges (teleplay)
Margaret Millar (novel)

TV Series:

"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1962)

Original Air Date:

20 March 1964 (Season 2, Episode 21)

Genre:

Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

An attorney helps a client threatened by an unstable woman who blames her for a broken wedding engagement. |

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Character Name In Title

Cast

Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Joan Hackett	...	Helen Clarvoe
Kevin McCarthy	...	Paul Blackshear
Kathleen Nolan	...	Dorothy Johnson
Brenda Forbes	...	Mrs. Verna Clarvoe
George Furth	...	Jack Terola
Curt Conway	...	Lieutenant Conway
Peggy Moffitt	...	Robin Rath
Anthony McBride	...	Tommy Thompson
Len Hendry	...	Mr. Horner
William Boyett	...	The Young Policeman
Jimmy Joyce	...	The Cab Driver
Bruce Andersen	...	The Father, Mr. Clarvoe

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Shamley Productions

Helen and Dorothy

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A plain, bookish girl frames her brother's fiancée for a theft of family funds, ending the engagement. The jilted bride, a vivacious Southern belle tutored by the girl, takes up drinking and loses her looks, the girl becomes a beauty in her own right.

Maddened with guilt, on top of her father's admiration for the fiancée ("she could be a professional model, why can't Helen be more like Dorothy?"), Helen visits a photographer's studio and creates a ruckus. She then claims Dorothy is threatening her life.

The family lawyer looks into the matter, and only finds the truth when Helen, alone in her apartment with a pistol, claims to be Dorothy holding Helen hostage, after murdering the photographer. The girl looks into her mirror, which becomes a screen of surreal imagery after the manner of Hans Richter's early films, a gloved hand missing an elusive finger, a spider and web, the reflected image fractured and piecemeal. She shoots it, the police burst in.