This is not really a review but a reply to the person who said Nancy K elly must be "50 if she were a day" . She was only 41 when this episode aired . She would most definitely have been young enough to have a baby.
10 Reviews
Interestingly, I happened to see this on Mother's Day!
planktonrules9 May 2021
"Lonely Hours" is one of the hour long episodes where the pace worked. Some, unfortunately, just seemed to be like the half hour episodes...stretched to an hour in length.
When the story begins, a lady (Nancy Kelly) comes to see the room Mrs. Henderson (Gena Rowlands) is offering. At first, things seem just fine but the lady is genuinely odd and Mrs. Henderson begins to wonder about her new boarder....as she seems to show an unnatural amount of attention to her baby. The woman is so unusual that Mrs. Henderson decides to do some investigating and discovers something odd....her boarder has an address book. And, it turns out Mrs. Williams has been visiting other mothers who have many things in common--they all have 7 month-old boys, they all had them at the same hospital and she's given each of these mothers a different identity and different reason for visiting each mother. What's going on here?!
This is a very creepy episode with a nice building sense of impending doom. It's even creepier because there really are cases like Mrs. Williams'...ones where disturbed women have done similar things. Well written, well acted...and with something unusual...an all-female cast.
By the way, although this is an excellent episode, there is one mistake. Mrs. Williams slips some capsules into Mrs. Henderson's coffee and within 5-10 seconds, they have completely dissolved and there is no trace of the pills in the coffee...none. This is just not possible.
When the story begins, a lady (Nancy Kelly) comes to see the room Mrs. Henderson (Gena Rowlands) is offering. At first, things seem just fine but the lady is genuinely odd and Mrs. Henderson begins to wonder about her new boarder....as she seems to show an unnatural amount of attention to her baby. The woman is so unusual that Mrs. Henderson decides to do some investigating and discovers something odd....her boarder has an address book. And, it turns out Mrs. Williams has been visiting other mothers who have many things in common--they all have 7 month-old boys, they all had them at the same hospital and she's given each of these mothers a different identity and different reason for visiting each mother. What's going on here?!
This is a very creepy episode with a nice building sense of impending doom. It's even creepier because there really are cases like Mrs. Williams'...ones where disturbed women have done similar things. Well written, well acted...and with something unusual...an all-female cast.
By the way, although this is an excellent episode, there is one mistake. Mrs. Williams slips some capsules into Mrs. Henderson's coffee and within 5-10 seconds, they have completely dissolved and there is no trace of the pills in the coffee...none. This is just not possible.
"I'm here with you and I'll never leave you!"
classicsoncall16 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This was an eerie episode made even creepier by the idea that it could actually happen given the way the story progressed. Tragic as well, since 'Vera Brandon' (Nancy Kelly) was severely delusional in her belief that a seven-month-old baby belonging to Louise Henderson (Gena Rowlands) was really her own upon the belief that St. Dominick's Hospital mistakenly switched newborns at birth. That had me recalling a much more humorous episode of "The Dick Van Dyke" Show in which Rob Petrie seriously considered the same idea, until the Black family he thought got his real child showed up at the Petrie's door with their own son. A similar scenario was presented here with the appearance of Mrs. McFarland (Juanita Moore) when Mrs. Henderson began investigating suspicions about her new boarder, who's real name was Mrs. Williams. I thought it clever how the screenwriters changed Mrs. Williams' modus operandi with each of the women who had a baby around the same time she did; it made scheming to replace her deceased baby that much shrewder, if not outright devious. The resolution to the story was handled intelligently and with considerable compassion on the part of the policewoman (Alice Backes) who responded to Mrs. Henderson's frantic phone call. Mrs. Williams' elaborate hoax resulted in a profoundly sad and disturbing entry in the Hitchcock series.
As an aside, if you were puzzled by Mrs. Henderson's request of thirty dollars a month to rent a room in her home, don't be. That's exactly the same amount I had to pay for a room in a private home as a second year college student, and that was in 1968!
As an aside, if you were puzzled by Mrs. Henderson's request of thirty dollars a month to rent a room in her home, don't be. That's exactly the same amount I had to pay for a room in a private home as a second year college student, and that was in 1968!
****
edwagreen4 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This was truly an excellent episode where veteran actress Nancy Kelly pulled out all the stops as an emotionally unstable woman whose husband left her and whose baby boy died in childbirth.
Refusing to accept the baby's death, Kelly goes to the homes of women who gave birth around the same time in order to choose one for her very diabolical plot.
The victim here is Gena Rowlands with two other children. Kelly rents a room from her while her husband is away. She claims to be writing her Ph.D thesis.
Kelly begins taking the boy out of the house to her real home so as to establish the child as her own in the neighborhood where she lives.
She finally takes the child all together and when it's determined where she is, the episode becomes even better with the policewoman pretending to sympathize with her, but at the same time using good psychology.
Refusing to accept the baby's death, Kelly goes to the homes of women who gave birth around the same time in order to choose one for her very diabolical plot.
The victim here is Gena Rowlands with two other children. Kelly rents a room from her while her husband is away. She claims to be writing her Ph.D thesis.
Kelly begins taking the boy out of the house to her real home so as to establish the child as her own in the neighborhood where she lives.
She finally takes the child all together and when it's determined where she is, the episode becomes even better with the policewoman pretending to sympathize with her, but at the same time using good psychology.
Slow-Motion Suspense
dougdoepke14 July 2015
Good slow-motion episode where suspense builds gradually over the hour. We know Vera's (Kelly) off-center, but how much of a menace is she. Then again, maybe she's just a forlorn middle-age woman seeking consolation in another woman's (Rowland) baby. Vera takes a room in Louise's house, and things seem ordinary except for the unusual amount of attention Vera pays to Louise's baby son. She even sneaks the baby out of the house while Louise is away. Looks like Vera's up to something, but what.
Given the circumstances, both main actresses low-key it. Kelly never really acts like an emotional loony, while Rowlands generally suppresses her growing concern. Since it's Hitchcock, we know there's a build-up to something, without knowing exactly who or what. The narrative may dawdle at times, but never drags. Note a really unusual bit of casting—unless I missed something, there's not a single man appearing anywhere during the 60-minutes! It's all the fairer sex on screen--so guys, be sure to tune in. In my book, it's a good, if unspectacular, bit of Hitchcock.
Given the circumstances, both main actresses low-key it. Kelly never really acts like an emotional loony, while Rowlands generally suppresses her growing concern. Since it's Hitchcock, we know there's a build-up to something, without knowing exactly who or what. The narrative may dawdle at times, but never drags. Note a really unusual bit of casting—unless I missed something, there's not a single man appearing anywhere during the 60-minutes! It's all the fairer sex on screen--so guys, be sure to tune in. In my book, it's a good, if unspectacular, bit of Hitchcock.
Not That Unusual
Hitchcoc10 May 2023
There are police files of women who have kidnapped babies after they lost theirs. This woman has a much more elaborate scheme to get one she thought was hers. The story is a bit far fetched. One hard thing for me was that cacophony from the older girls. The story goes forward and eventually it is discovered that the woman in question was finally revealed. I thought the way the police handled things at the end was quite good. When dealing with mental illness, the last thing you want to do is go in accusatory and aggressive. There is plenty of emotional damage without that. The two actresses in this one did a very good, convincing job.
The nanny
searchanddestroy-17 January 2021
The evil or twisted nanny scheme has already been told many times on small and big screen but it still is enjoying to watch anyway. Here, performances are brilliant and convincing too. The particularity, everyone has noticed, is that there is no man at all in the cast, only the director Jack Smight and the baby Michael. ha ha ha The kind of AH H that I like, because unusual.
Mid-30s??
macguffin5418 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Solid episode in the style of Hand That Rocks the Cradle, with a cameo by Juanita Moore (when I suppose shows started having black actors who weren't maids or shoeshine boys, this being the second episode this season with a black actor, following the anthrax episode. And this episode had 2 black actors, counting the maid). Plenty of creepy suspense that could have easily been a movie. But, to me, the thing that stands out the most is that (**spoilers**) we are supposed to believe that not only did that woman just have a baby (that died), but that she is supposed to be or look like she is in her mid-30s?? She is 50 if she is a day and looks it. I like her voice, though, but really, mid-30s? Uh uh.
Gena Rowlands and Nancy Kelly
kevinolzak7 March 2012
"The Lonely Hours" focuses on a young mother of three, Louise Henderson (Gena Rowlands), and a new arrival come to rent a spare bedroom, Vera Brandon (Nancy Kelly). Louise is certain she knows the childless Vera from somewhere but cannot remember, and there are things that the new boarder does not reveal to her, such as the fact that she already has an apartment elsewhere, under the name Williams. Quickly growing attached to Lonnie, the infant son of Louise, Vera eventually introduces him as her own child to her old landlady (Jesslyn Fax), who immediately comments on the resemblance between the two. Louise notices Vera's odd behavior, and begins to investigate her identity. Best remembered as the harried mother of "The Bad Seed" (1956), Nancy Kelly gets to play the other side, in a topical story that continues to be a mother's worst nightmare.
Too unbelievable.
collings50015 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
There is NO WAY the mother would allow the stranger another second in her house after she knew the stranger was messing with her baby. For me, the story went straight downhill after that.
That said, the doll-baby's face shouldn't have been seen until the very end, even though we know it's a doll. Only the back of the head is seen. Then, as the nut lady-walks out cradling the doll in a blanket, we finally see the face: the creepiest, staring-eyed face imaginable, with a crack running from its lip up to one cheek - giving us the chilling impression that the doll is about to speak.
That said, the doll-baby's face shouldn't have been seen until the very end, even though we know it's a doll. Only the back of the head is seen. Then, as the nut lady-walks out cradling the doll in a blanket, we finally see the face: the creepiest, staring-eyed face imaginable, with a crack running from its lip up to one cheek - giving us the chilling impression that the doll is about to speak.
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