Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) The Doubtful Doctor (1960) User Reviews

A Cliff Notes version of It's A Wonderful Life

[cpotato1010 · 7/10 · 4 February 2019]

Except without all of the singing and angels.

Either that, or someone mixed up the film cans and we got an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Would you believe that this was the inspiration for the first episode of season 10 of "Dallas"?

OK, this was a fun little episode, mostly for Dick York and Gena Rowlands.

I know of Dick York mostly from 'Bewitched', but I am also now seeing him in the episodes of AHP, and also the two TZ episodes.

In this one he is closer to what we normally see of him compared to his first three AHP episodes, although there is no real comedic events here.

The twist at the end is rather predictable, if you have seen enough of these types of shows, but still well done by Mr. York.

One observation that is sadly ironic - at the opening scene in the doctor's office, Dick York is chain smoking. In real life, he died too young, from emphysema.

"I guess you're a little mixed up, sir."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

This story would have been better placed as an episode of The Twilight Zone. Ralph Jones' (Dick York) 'visit' to the past can't be reconciled with the present by producing the baseball cards he got from the young kid Sidney (Michael Burns). TZ created the kind of aura where you could accept that idea as a conclusion to an odds defying story, but Hitchcock's programs were more or less grounded in the realities of a world following the laws of physics. However I did like the psychiatrist's (John Zaremba) analysis of Ralph's situation whereby he described stress as a relevant factor for Ralph's imagination to take over. Now if Ralph had slipped back in time to about thirty years prior, those baseball cards might have been worth something.

Pretty Basic Stuff

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 25 May 2021]

As Dick York (of Bewitched fame) works his way through a world where he sees the same characters but everything has changed (including his wife), he can only come to one conclusion. This is very Twilight Zone like and is very predictable. We need to ponder the ending, but what else is new?

Sort of like "It's a Wonderful Life".

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 13 April 2021]

The plot from "It's a Wonderful Life" has been liberally 'borrowed' over the years, both in films and television. Again and again, I've seen shows where a person goes back in time and sees what life would be like if they could do it over again. "The Doubtful Doctor" clearly is based on this concept.

Ralph Jones (Dick York) visits a psychiatrist and tells him about his problem. It seems that one day, he awakened and found himself living two years earlier. He was not married, his career was far less successful and he is at first confused. What's next? See the show...or not, as you kinda know where it's going next.

As I already mentioned, the story idea is very familiar...too familiar. It's pleasant otherwise but just wasn't very original.

Scratching My Head

[collings500 · 1/10 · 5 February 2019]

The "twist" in this one doesn't make any sense - to me, at least. If this guy's recent trip into the past was just a fantasy, but he has the kid's baseball cards in his pocket when he returns to reality...well, so what? We know he can't be still living in his fantasy flashback because he's returned to his normal life with his wife and new baby, neither of which existed during his encounter with the kid. We also get the point (a cliche by today's standards, but maybe somewhat novel in 1960) that the trip to the "past" has shown him that the "present" isn't so bad after all. But the relevance of the baseball cards surviving a trip back to the real world was completely lost on me.

The doubtful doctor

[coltras35 · 4/10 · 12 May 2022]

Ralph Jones (Dick York) visits a psychiatrist regarding his problem. It seems that one day, he awakened and found himself living two years earlier. Then he was not married, his career was far less successful and he is at first baffled. And when he tries to woo woman who is now his wife, she's not interested.

This is a weaker episode, I found it mildly diverting with a good performance by Dick York. Gena Rowlands is wonderful to look at. The twist at the end is just ok, though it did manage to perplex the psychologist.