User Reviews

This episode of "Four Star Playhouse" started off quite well but got bogged down later because the plot device required that a very brilliant psychiatrist (Charles Boyer) suddenly become very dim...the same goes for his wife.

When the show begins, a charming and brilliant psychiatrist seems to perform a miracle with a young boy and his father. Because of this, it's very odd that his next meeting is with a woman who thinks he's an idiot. She is inexplicably angry because the Doc had her husband institutionalized after he tried to murder her...and she is somehow angry at the doctor!

Later when he goes home, his young daughter keeps talking about a man living in their basement. Never once did either parent wonder if perhaps the man might not be imaginary but real! Again and again, the kid keeps dropping clues...and each time the parents ignore it. Eventually, the kid practically clobbers them upside the head until even these dummies can't avoid concluding that a mad man is in the house. Duh.

The last straw for me was when the wife yelled out "We'll all be killed thanks to your psychiatric nonsense"....couldn't have said it any better myself!

Basically I agree with reviewer Hafer- the episode starts off well but fails to follow through in either persuasive or suspenseful manner. However, the script does try to justify Boyer and wife's disbelief of their little girl's claim about a man in the cellar by stating that she's prone to imaginary friends (in a tree, for example). Thus the parents shrug off her claim about a man in the cellar. But if he's real, will he harm them; he may have reason since Boyer once had a violent man institutionalized. Too bad this aspect isn't played up more. Anyway, Washburn's terrific as the disturbed little girl, while familiar faces from the time- Doucette, Gerstle, Towne- turn up in supprting roles. And, oh yes, Gerstle no doubt picks up the easiest paycheck of his first-rate career- check him out at the end.