User Reviews

The Umbrella Man is out and about, taking advantage of the weather and people's good nature, a conman of true talent. His scam, simple, to get into conversation with someone, and sell them an umbrella, previously stolen, with a pretence of needing money for a Taxi. He makes the acquaintance of Wendy, a woman committing adultery with acquaintance Andrew, Umbrella man's intervention exposes the affair.

Worth watching for the fine performances, there are some true greats in this one, John Mills, Michael Gambon, Michael Sheard etc, John Mills is utterly brilliant, a true talent.

Prey for a rainy day, I wonder if this scam has been put into action and used before.

I've criticised episodes of Tales for lacking in mystery and suspense, this has very little of either in truth, but it seems not to matter somehow, the story here is so clever, this episode is a goody. 8/10

Tales of the Unexpected: The Umbrella Man starts as a conman (John Mills) arrives in a small English town in preparation for his latest trick. A woman named Wendy (Jennifer Hilary) is caught in a torrential rain storm after just having had her hair done, she takes shelter in a shop doorway where she is approached by the man who sweet talks her into buying an umbrella which he had just stolen. A short time later while out & about Wendy sees him do the same thing to several other people as well as steal another umbrella from a busy pub, later she is then asked to identify him at a police station where she decides she could make the situation work in her own favour...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 11 from season 2 & originally aired here in the UK during May 1980, the second of three Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Claude Whatham this is a pretty good story. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Ronald Harwood & during his introduction Dahl states he got the idea for The Umbrella Man while in New York & after witnessing the exact same con, he also says that he hopes no-one will copy the trick! Anyway, this has an intriguing premise & a nicely thought out little con which one of it's victims uses to her own advantage & it makes for a perfectly watchable if slight 30 odd minutes of drama with a nice twist. It's nothing outstanding but it's a painless way to pass the time & one of the better stories from this largely forgettable show.

This one looks alright considering the low TV budget it must have had, there's no real scares suspense or tension but it's a neat enough story all the same. The stellar British cast is yet again impressive, the late Sir John Mills puts in a likable performance & Michael Gambon also makes an appearance.

The Umbrella Man is a decent little time waster, it won't change your life but it's a watchable piece of classic British TV drama.

John Mills, last seen as the tormented victim of childhood bullying (Galloping Foxley), shows the other side of his versatile acting skills here as a charming con-man, whose chance appearance brings about an emotional revelation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode as it involves two apparently unrelated storylines which merge seamlessly together so that we see things in a wholly different light (as in any good short story).

The incidental music at the beginning was interesting. We initially suspect that the confidence man has dark intentions, the background music is slightly sinister, in complete contrast to the much more jaunty accompaniment which heralds the storyline about a love triangle, between a married woman and a fellow commuter, Andrew (Michael Gambon, in typically insouciant form, breezily twirling an umbrella).

Jennifer Hilary is marvellous as Wendy, conveying both a luminous beauty and a passionate yearning. She & Andrew can barely contain their feelings for each other despite her husband's evident suspicion (I did like the slightly comic situation where they openly declare their feelings right in front of another (perplexed) commuter, simply reading a broadsheet, after her husband pops out for a minute). It was clever how something apparently banal as a newspaper crossword was used to convey Andrew's declaration of love for Wendy as well as prompting a cryptic interjection from her husband, Arthur.

The first half of the episode revolves around the Umbrella Man's scam & how he charms Wendy into buying one of his brollies. He senses that she is emotionally confused, offering her the consoling advice that 'No one is worth the tears of a beautiful woman'. Later, she watches him performing the same ruse & follows him out of curiosity. Instead of anger, she simply bursts into a fit of laughter at his effrontery.

The second half of the episode is about how Wendy & Andrew's affair is inadvertently revealed by chance after her husband spots that the umbrella she claims to have bought off the Umbrella Man, is the very same one Andrew claims to have had stolen, leading him to assume that they have had a secret assignation during the afternoon & are now covering their tracks.

Without spoiling the ending too much, this tale is really about another type of deception so that the viewer is left to wonder about who is actually the real con-man in this story.

Talk about low profile scams, the one presented here looks like it could actually work, and series host Roald Dahl says he saw it in action. Seems like a lot of effort though with so little payoff. Yet in the story it's made to look like the umbrella thief (John MIlls) makes a living at it, going from town to town in search of the perfect rain storm. The main one in this story backfires on one of the victims (Michael Gambon), who happens to be in an affair with his friend's wife (Jennifer Hilary). The woman got taken in by the umbrella man's polite demeanor and smooth talk and got hit up for five pounds. Only a little while later, she sees him pull off the same ruse with another victim. The way this all fits together has to do with her paramour's loss of an umbrella, which when it shows up, implicates Wendy (Hilary) in a love match with Andrew (Gambon). Vehemently denying the affair to her husband (John Carson), while throwing Wendy under the bus with his inconsiderate remarks, she has the opportunity to right things with the police by identifying the umbrella snatcher. Forgive me for the pun, but seeing an opening, Wendy thought it best to rain on Andrew's parade.

In his introduction. Roald Dahl states that he wrote the story after a true incident. You could be forgiven for thinking that his other stories with a twist were also inspired by real life incidents.

John Mills is a well spoken man who has checked into a dingy flat in London. He operates a scam that involves stolen umbrellas from local pubs and a sob story about forgetting his wallet.

He comes across Wendy an attractive married woman who is having an affair. The man sees the sadness behind her eyes.

When Wendy's husband accuses her of having an affair, with her lover denying it all. Wendy sees a way of leaving her unhappy marriage.

It was not much of a twist but a nicely done short drama. A good chance to see a young Michael Gambon as the lover.