I like when a series tries something different. This episode had an excellent cast of well-defined characters I could easily tell apart. It was interesting to see the actors when they were younger, in some cases before they got their signature roles. I lingered to watch it to the end when I really wanted to do something else, so it was compelling enough to make me stay. Even on a sunny afternoon when I watched it I found it sufficiently eerie. If I had seen it in prime time after the sun had set, it would have been creepier.
The house was quite well decorated. I particularly liked the big pot holding the palm tree next to the stairway. The inlay work in Betsy's bed and dresser were beautiful, and Jane Wyatt's final outfit was superb. There was quality all through this episode. Even the portrait of the dead girl had a mouth that was faintly irritated, a subtlety one might not expect. I kept looking at it when it came on the screen.
And because it was The Virginian, they had more than an hour to flesh out the story. Like many of the episodes, it verged on being a movie rather than just a TV show. I agree it wasn't the greatest mystery drama ever filmed, (it wasn't even in the top 100) but it was a pleasant way to pass the time and the acting was good enough to put across the VERY elderly plot.
They probably cut something that would have explained the letter better than it was covered in the final summing up that most mysteries rely on. File it under "scary stuff."
I just hope when they sell the mansion they include a warning that the beams had been weakened by the fire. We were given the impression it could barely survive a stiff wind! Strip it, sell the pieces, and then sell what is left with the land...unless someone wants to hide out in the cellar.... Ooh, spooky, spooky.
The house was quite well decorated. I particularly liked the big pot holding the palm tree next to the stairway. The inlay work in Betsy's bed and dresser were beautiful, and Jane Wyatt's final outfit was superb. There was quality all through this episode. Even the portrait of the dead girl had a mouth that was faintly irritated, a subtlety one might not expect. I kept looking at it when it came on the screen.
And because it was The Virginian, they had more than an hour to flesh out the story. Like many of the episodes, it verged on being a movie rather than just a TV show. I agree it wasn't the greatest mystery drama ever filmed, (it wasn't even in the top 100) but it was a pleasant way to pass the time and the acting was good enough to put across the VERY elderly plot.
They probably cut something that would have explained the letter better than it was covered in the final summing up that most mysteries rely on. File it under "scary stuff."
I just hope when they sell the mansion they include a warning that the beams had been weakened by the fire. We were given the impression it could barely survive a stiff wind! Strip it, sell the pieces, and then sell what is left with the land...unless someone wants to hide out in the cellar.... Ooh, spooky, spooky.