User Reviews

Darrin Stevens' first wife Julie has been attacked in her bedroom while he was working late at McMahon & Tate. Well, actor Dick York's wife in this episode had this happen while he was working until midnight on a big project that could have been in advertising-we never learned what he did specifically-only that he was working on a big deal and had worked until midnight for several weeks before the attack.

We never heard the word "rape" but it was certainly implied. Julie had a nasty injury to her right eye-which we never saw until a few minutes after the episode began, seeing her only in profile from the other side. She was very nervous, scared to tell the police anything. We viewers were not truly told whether she was refusing to say much to the police because she was afraid the man would revisit her, or because she never got a good look at him at all. She basically said he was tall and that while he was holding her mouth, she bit him-through the glove he was wearing.

We never got a better description, nor heard if the house was broken into or not. We had a red-herring of a delivery man who was dispatched to the back door and never mentioned again.

Julie's husband Tom seemed to be most protective of his wife, but he did urge her to try to identify the suspect when asked to go to the station for a lineup. We viewers who have seen one or more realistic police shows, know how lineups are handled. A few suspects who match detailed descriptions line up and the victim or victims/witnesses are then given a chance to pick out the real suspect from a collection of similar-looking people, usually including a police officer or two.

We never heard any real description from Julie, so it was surprising to see they had a lineup. It had three men only, none of whom looked anything like the other two. She was told that they think they've got her assailant in this group-something they never tell the person in real life. Despite showing no indication of recognizing any of them, Julie is given a chance to take a second look and as she gets to the second man of the group, she seems too shaken to think straight-caused by her psychological problems that were discussed earlier. Suddenly the authorities seem to lead her into accusing the second man. She gives them an "I think so" identification, which would never stand up in court because they led her to choose him. This leads Tom to race up to the accused and in his attempt to attack him, has his foot broken by a cop trying to stop him. He calmly says he might need some help because one of the officers broke his foot.

She goes home, still shaken. Tom now has a cast and crutches as he gets about the house. Julie then makes a discovery that leads to a shocking conclusion that truly doesn't fit with anything else that happened in this episode.

I'm trying not to truly reveal the ending but want to indicate that it seemed far from realistic in terms of the characters as presented in this story. I think the whole thing hinges on the facts that we never really learn how well Julie saw her attacker and don't know if there's a chance she could pick him out of a group or not.

I think the script left us wanting more specific information much earlier because they knew that to provide the usual details would have either given us the ending surprise or would have solidified things that would have negated the ending we had. As such, this episode overall is below par for the series, a 6 at best.

I actually like this episode and I thought it was well done. Even though you probably suspect the right person, you still want to see it played out. The only problem I had is why would she throw the glove on the floor and run out. She needed that for evidence. Once the cops think they identified someone and they got it right they are extremely reluctant to admit that they are wrong. This also illustrates how the cops work, which really hasn't changed in 50 years. Some people claim that they were plot holes, but I don't think so. Brunner probably was the attacker of several people in the area. What better way to have fingers point elsewhere than to commit a similar crime?

"You Can't Be a Little Girl..." is among the worst "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episodes I've seen. Though bearing an obvious resemblance to the very first episode (the classic "Revenge", 1.1), it is far inferior.

If you've seen a lot of suspense stories, you develop a feeling for how they're going to end, with the feeling often surfacing right at the start. In this case, your intuition is correct, and the finale is no surprise at all. The plotting is contrived, with the husband suffering a broken leg to keep him from acting when he needs to. And the ending is beyond stupid, with the attacker failing to dispose of (or at least hide) the incriminating evidence.

Norman Lloyd (one of the show's producers, and a respected actor/director still alive at almost 102!), does a fine job trying to make this poor story interesting. He isn't helped by the amateurish and clunky dialog. (You'd think he'd have edited on the spot.)

I've nevertheless given this episode eight stars, because it shows how little things have changed in 60 years. The police play the "blame the victim" game. ("Have you gone out at night?") They badger her relentlessly to identify the attacker, so they can look like they're doing their job. ("Why won't you identify the man?") And the attacker thinks it's okay to beat up a woman because he's frustrated at the way his life is going.

Worth seeing as a time capsule of still-commonplace attitudes.

I hate to be so negative about a Hitchcock story, but the resolution to this one was just stupid. A repeat of what went on doesn't bear mentioning, as others have already done so. Just because Tom Barton (Dick York) suffered a failed business deal, how does that translate into attacking his own wife in their own home? And then, to leave the torn glove in his jacket that Julie Barton (Carolyn Kearney) claimed to have bitten during the assault was just a huge head scratcher. Why would Tom leave evidence around like that? Why attack his own wife in the first place? I can't see any justification for it, while all the other activity in the episode with the police, the D. A, and the line-up was simply rendered moot. Not only that, but with the detective's mention that other women in the neighborhood were also attacked, does that suggest that Tom Barton was taking out his frustration on other victims as well?

When the story begins, Julie has apparently been attacked by a man in her own home. It seems that her husband was working late and someone came in and beat her badly*. Now the police are asking her all about the attack, though she is able to recall much of the event...much of which could be because it was very dark and she never got a good look at the guy. The only clue is that she bit the attacker's gloved hand.

As for the police, they seem rather unprofessional. At times, they grill Julie horribly and they put a lot of pressure on her to say more...even though she most likely can't. In fact, it makes you wonder if some cases in the news are like this...where victims are pressured so hard that they might identify the wrong person.

While the twist in this one seems interesting, it also has a HUGE plot hole....the bitten hand. In other words, the solution to the case really doesn't pan out and left me confused. It really doesn't make any sense and as wes-connors said, "...it doesn't add up".

*While this sounds like a rape case, the word and words like it are not used. The notion of someone breaking in just to beat up a stranger seems odd...but the show was constrained by network standards, which wouldn't at the time allow making it a sexual assault.

While there was some suspense for the first 3/4 of the show, the twist ending just made the whole thing a gigantic puzzle. Watch it if you're a fan, or if you just want to say that you've seen each and every episode. However, if you're someone who just hates saying 'huh???' at the end of a show, don't be afraid to skip this one.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wife is attacked in her dark bedroom by a tall stranger whose face she says that she never sees while her husband is at work. Police, her father, and her husband try to get her to describe the man. She had a near breakdown because she can't or won't say what he looks like. She attends a lineup at the police station, and she identifies one of the men as her attacker. Her husband jumps on him, police jump in to stop the attack, and in the melee, hubby's leg is broken. Back at home, looking in her closet, she discovers in a coat pocket a glove that she'd said the attacker was wearing and that she'd bitten. She confronts her husband, who tries and fails to stop her from leaving.