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Broadcasting (07/Oct/1957) - In Review: Suspicion

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SUSPICION

For years viewers grumbled about the half-hour overlap of NBC-TV's Robert Montgomery Presents and CBS-TV's Studio One that prevented complete viewing of both programs. Now with NBC-TV starting its new Suspicion series in the exact same hour opposite Studio One, the choice may be even more difficult.

For Suspicion, combining live and film offerings and embellished with the touch of Alfred Hitchcock or his associates, promises Grade A entertainment. Three separate units will produce 22 live and 20 film shows in the series. Mr. Hitchcock is senior producer and director for 10 of the 20 films. The remaining 10 will be done by Revue Productions, with Alan Miller as executive producer. The 22 live dramas will be produced in New York with S. Mark Smith as executive producer and Mort Abrahams as producer.

The initial film offering, "Four O'Clock," was not done by Mr. Hitchcock, but the master of suspense's touch was there. In fact, the tv adaptation was based on an original story by Cornell Wollrich who wrote Mr. Hitchcock's film classic "Rear Window."

"Four O'Clock" is the story of a husband who believes his wife is unfaithful and plants a time bomb in his own cellar. Pointing up the deft production and direction is the great suspense sustained for better than a half-hour while concentrating mostly on the bomb's alarm clock and the terrified husband who was bound-and-gagged in the basement by housebreakers. True to the Hitchcock tradition, the story has its unexpected ending.

It could be that the Monday night viewer, torn between Studio One and the absorbing action of Suspicion—both for free—would happily forget about any coin box gadgets on his set.

Production costs: $55,000.

Sponsored by Philip Morris, through N. W. Ayer & Son, and Ford Div. of Ford Motor Co., through J. Walter Thompson, on NBC-TV, Mondays, 10-11 p.m., EDT. Started Sept 30.

Following with Alan Miller film unit which presented first show: executive producer: Alan Miller; producers: Frank P. Rosenberg, Richard Lewis, William Frye; directors: James Neilson, John Brahm, Don Weiss.

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