This episode manages to keep the viewer off balance once it moves to the roadside diner and Barbie Hallem's (Barbara Cook) inherited cabin in the woods. The dialog offered by brothers Ed (Robert Karnes) and Benny Mungo (Vic Morrow) keep you guessing as to which one is the killer of the unseen Marcella and her troublesome dog. The answer comes all too quickly for the flirtatious Barbie, who's cynical discarding of men at the drop of a hat seemed destined for a fatal confrontation. For some reason, this episode seemed to fly by in a flash, and I couldn't believe it was over as quickly as it started. Even after Ed Mungo did his dirty work, I thought there would be more to the story.
14 Reviews
A rare television appearance by singer Barbara Cook makes this a unique episode
mgmstar12824 July 2017
I don't want to rehash the plot of the episode here, but I would like to add some information about the singer Barbara Cook and the actor John Carlyle. If I had not seen the opening credits of the episode, I would never in a million years have known it was Barbara Cook, one of Broadway's most popular female musical ingenues of the 1950s and 1960s. She appeared in many musicals but probably was most famous for Candide, The Music Man, She Loves Me, and The Grass Harp. She was so thin and sexy here; I was amused to remember how on one of her many concert compact disc recordings she recalled looking back at photos of herself and realizing how pretty and shapely she had looked when younger once she became older. She poked fun at herself saying how foolish she had been to put herself down for thinking she was not as attractive as she was. I have had the good fortune to see Miss Cook at least four times in concert, and each performance was terrific, even the last one at Queens College about a year or two ago. At the age of 89, she recently retired from singing earlier this year (2017).
John Carlyle was an actor who never quite made it big. His biggest claim to fame was his connection to Judy Garland. He filmed scenes for Judy Garland's 1954 movie A Star is Born, but they were all deleted and left on the cutting room floor. He wrote a book called "Under the Rainbow: An Intimate Memoir of Judy Garland, Rock Hudson and My Life in Old Hollywood." It is an interesting look at his friendship which lasted until Judy's death in 1969, and it also focuses on his life as a gay actor in Hollywood when he was trying to become a star.
John Carlyle was an actor who never quite made it big. His biggest claim to fame was his connection to Judy Garland. He filmed scenes for Judy Garland's 1954 movie A Star is Born, but they were all deleted and left on the cutting room floor. He wrote a book called "Under the Rainbow: An Intimate Memoir of Judy Garland, Rock Hudson and My Life in Old Hollywood." It is an interesting look at his friendship which lasted until Judy's death in 1969, and it also focuses on his life as a gay actor in Hollywood when he was trying to become a star.
Could there be anyone more foolish than Barbie??
planktonrules5 March 2021
When the story begins, you meet Barbie (Barbara Cook), a rich girl who yearns for excitement...even if it's dangerous or foolish. On a whim, she decides to head out to a cabin that was left to her by a dead uncle. However, when she stops in town, she learns that a murderer is lurking about the area. Now you'd THINK anyone with an ounce of common sense would just go home and go to this cabin another day. But she is a know-it-all and goes anyway...and ends up running straight into the path of the killer and his slow-witted friend!!
Barbie is an interesting character study. She's a rich, bored, foolish good-time girl...and it's hard to really feel sorry for her or her fate. In fact, I assume many folks at home were rooting for her to die! And, fortunately, the show did have a nice twist at the end...one that make this a good, though not great episode.
Barbie is an interesting character study. She's a rich, bored, foolish good-time girl...and it's hard to really feel sorry for her or her fate. In fact, I assume many folks at home were rooting for her to die! And, fortunately, the show did have a nice twist at the end...one that make this a good, though not great episode.
Flirting with Trouble
dougdoepke24 March 2007
The main reason to view this otherwise routine episode is to get a load of Barara Cook's flaunted sexuality and gain, as reviewer Cine perceptively asserts, some insight into what that highly charged behavior implies. In fact, this 50's entry amounts to an unusual TV excursion into the touchy topic of sexual exploitation. As Barbara Hallem, Cook's every movement is that of a choreographed tease, from tight dress to swiveling hips to plunging neck-line, all aided and abetted by an appreciative camera as Cook piles it on. I expect this episode went about as far as any TV show of the time in titillating male viewers. She is, however, nothing more than a tease to which the derogatory slang of the time richly applies. More importantly, hers is not a sexuality of frankness; rather it's a sexuality of guile and manipulation. She appears incapable of an honest relationship. So when she's "punished" at episode's end, of course there is an element of male satisfaction. But if that satisfaction is reactionary, so are her capricious and abusive ways. And in that sense, the episode offers an interesting little glimpse into the mores of a time that in many respects are still with us.
Footnote: Unfortunately that fine actor Vic Morrow is almost totally wasted in a part that could have been filled by any one of dozens of lesser talents.
Footnote: Unfortunately that fine actor Vic Morrow is almost totally wasted in a part that could have been filled by any one of dozens of lesser talents.
"A Little Sleep" can be permanent
chuck-reilly1 February 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Broadway star Barbara Cook livened up this episode as a girl who just wants to have some fun---at anyone's expense. Unfortunately, her good times run out fast when she takes an excursion to the countryside and winds up at a remote lodge with two men (brothers), one of whom is a killer. Despite some obvious clues, Cook is positive that the younger brother (Vic Morrow) is the safer bet and pays the consequences. Of course, crazy Vic didn't mean to kill his previous victim (his own girlfriend), he just wanted to "put her to sleep" for a while.
Ms. Cook plays the hot-to-trot party-girl for all its worth here. Her sexual-charged dance at a New York City soirée in the opening segment probably had 1950s censors falling out of their chairs. It's too bad that the talented Ms. Cook didn't appear on television more. Jack Mullaney, almost a Hitchock "stock player" for this series, is also on hand as a customer in an out-of-the-way diner who warns poor Barbara of her oncoming doom to no avail. Like most of the early episodes of this series, "A Little Sleep" ends on a dour note, but watching Barbara Cook's antics are certainly worth it. As for Vic Morrow, he suffered a tragic and early death during the filming of the "Twilight Zone" movie in 1982.
Ms. Cook plays the hot-to-trot party-girl for all its worth here. Her sexual-charged dance at a New York City soirée in the opening segment probably had 1950s censors falling out of their chairs. It's too bad that the talented Ms. Cook didn't appear on television more. Jack Mullaney, almost a Hitchock "stock player" for this series, is also on hand as a customer in an out-of-the-way diner who warns poor Barbara of her oncoming doom to no avail. Like most of the early episodes of this series, "A Little Sleep" ends on a dour note, but watching Barbara Cook's antics are certainly worth it. As for Vic Morrow, he suffered a tragic and early death during the filming of the "Twilight Zone" movie in 1982.
WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN
ssesq26 February 2021
I've seen Barbara Cook in her typical performances like Marian The Librarian in Music Man but never saw her in a performance like this. She was unbelievable doing this type of role and I would have never recognized her if not for the titles.
ultimately disappointing but watchable chiller
didi-518 May 2009
This episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' is mainly a vehicle for the young Barbara Cook who flirts, teases and pouts her way through the half hour running time. She's a heiress but she's bored with men, bored with money, and so decides to head to the country to a little shack she's inherited - but will she find trouble there?
Tainted a bit by the underlying message that flirty women deserve to find themselves in trouble, this episode is slightly creepy and unpleasant but is watchable enough as it heads towards the rather inevitable conclusion. (By the way, Vic Morrow is billed above the title with Cook but he doesn't appear in this episode that much, although his role is fairly pivotal - it could have been anyone in the part, though).
Tainted a bit by the underlying message that flirty women deserve to find themselves in trouble, this episode is slightly creepy and unpleasant but is watchable enough as it heads towards the rather inevitable conclusion. (By the way, Vic Morrow is billed above the title with Cook but he doesn't appear in this episode that much, although his role is fairly pivotal - it could have been anyone in the part, though).
Predictable ending, but...that dance.
kelani3 May 2021
As others have aptly said, Barbara's character here shines as an amazingly complicated girl, despite her actual shallowness. You know exactly how her story will end long before the final scene, but wow, that dance at the beginning is just pure art. Not having been alive in the 50s, I was amazed that the censors even allowed it on the air, but they did, and I consider it a classic Hitchcockian scene. That alone is a reason to watch this episode. Everything about it: her beauty, the cute/sexy teasing dance, the rapt partygoer cast, the camera work, apropos music -all of it makes you simply adore and/or pity her. Then her subsequent behavior snaps you back to reality and you see her character for the shallow, entitled vessel she really is. It works because we all know someone like this. Unfortunately they're common today, but back then? Not so common, and quite scandalous.
As I said, the rest of the episode plays out pretty much exactly as you would expect, but that setup still makes it a very worthwhile watch.
As I said, the rest of the episode plays out pretty much exactly as you would expect, but that setup still makes it a very worthwhile watch.
We Knew, Didn't We?
Hitchcoc18 June 2013
Barbara Cook certainly was quite attractive. She is one of those destructive enticements that makes men make fools of themselves. It's hard for us to like her. Still, when we see her self-destructive behavior unfolding, we become protective of her--we don't want her harmed. Nevertheless, she continues in her effort to supplant boredom and puts herself in perpetual danger. It seems that there are two ways this can go. She can put herself in an untenable position or she can slither away, not unlike the sexy dance that begins the episode. Unfortunately she finds herself in a place where different rules apply, unlike the usual places where she can manipulate unsuspecting males with her feminine wiles. The conclusion is quite predictable, but it still packs a wallop.
Very much awake
TheLittleSongbird17 August 2022
"A Little Sleep" is the penultimate episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' Season 2. It is also the second episode directed by Paul Henreid, the first being the disappointing "Vicious Circle", and it was interesting seeing Broadway legend Barbara Cook in a different role. The idea for the episode was very intriguing and a good deal more appealing than that of the previous episode "The Indestructible Mr Weems" (which still actually managed to be surprisingly great).
There are better episodes in Season 2 than "A Little Sleep" but also a lot worse. As far as the season goes, it's still in the better category and is significantly better than Henreid's previous 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode "Vicious Circle" (with this actually being a good episode). "A Little Sleep" is not an 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' high point or perfect, but it is nonetheless very good with a lot of great things (those things including Cook), as well as a couple of things that aren't as good.
Would have liked Vic Morrow's role to have been larger, his role here is very underwritten and thankless and he is very underused. Meaning that he comes over as bland too much.
It can be predictable as well story wise.
However, a lot is good. A definite strength is Cook, who is very alluring and it is a performance that affects and unsettles. The ending is absolutely delicious, one of the most satisfying, most unexpected and cleverest ones of the season. The dance scene is very ahead of the time and a scene that is difficult to look away from.
Furthermore, Henreid's direction shows a lot more confidence and engagement and there are no signs of being taxed or going through the motions. Despite being predictable, the story still engrosses and isn't dull, while the episode is thoughtfully written. Production values while not lavish are still slick and atmospheric and musically it's suitably ominous. Hitchcock's bookending is suitably ironic.
Overall, very good. 8/10.
There are better episodes in Season 2 than "A Little Sleep" but also a lot worse. As far as the season goes, it's still in the better category and is significantly better than Henreid's previous 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode "Vicious Circle" (with this actually being a good episode). "A Little Sleep" is not an 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' high point or perfect, but it is nonetheless very good with a lot of great things (those things including Cook), as well as a couple of things that aren't as good.
Would have liked Vic Morrow's role to have been larger, his role here is very underwritten and thankless and he is very underused. Meaning that he comes over as bland too much.
It can be predictable as well story wise.
However, a lot is good. A definite strength is Cook, who is very alluring and it is a performance that affects and unsettles. The ending is absolutely delicious, one of the most satisfying, most unexpected and cleverest ones of the season. The dance scene is very ahead of the time and a scene that is difficult to look away from.
Furthermore, Henreid's direction shows a lot more confidence and engagement and there are no signs of being taxed or going through the motions. Despite being predictable, the story still engrosses and isn't dull, while the episode is thoughtfully written. Production values while not lavish are still slick and atmospheric and musically it's suitably ominous. Hitchcock's bookending is suitably ironic.
Overall, very good. 8/10.
Flirting with Disaster
sol12189 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Pretty spoiled and rotten to the core party goer Barbie Hallen, Barbara Cook, just dumped her boyfriend in the middle of the road, some 10 miles from the nearest phone, after he took her for a ride in the country to see her late uncle's country house whom she just inherited it from. Driving to the nearest diner to freshen herself up, with a cup of strong black coffee, and flirt with the locals men folks Barbie finds out that there's a killer on the loose in the area where her country house is.
It's the dinner owner Ed Mungo, Robert Karnes, who's in fact is looking after Barbie's house and has his somewhat unstable younger brother Benny, Vic Morrow,staying there. Ed warning Barbie not to go there since there's a psycho the loose Barbie still is confident that she's never run into him. Meeting Benny at the house the two,like birds of a feather, are immediately attracted to each other since their both cut from the same cloth or cookie cutter. So much so that Ed, who looks after the house, gets greatly upset when arriving at the place and sees them there. Ed trying to get Barbie to leave in her car, before the sparks starts flying, has things get's very out of hand with Benny demanding why his girlfriend Melessa didn't show up with Ed like he told him she would which greatly aggravated Benny!
***SPOILER**** The reason that Malissa didn't show up was because she wasn't in any condition to do so. And it was Barbie in her insisting that she go to her uncle's country house who set off a series of unforeseen events that ended up putting her in the very same condition and place that we were soon to find Malissa in!
It's the dinner owner Ed Mungo, Robert Karnes, who's in fact is looking after Barbie's house and has his somewhat unstable younger brother Benny, Vic Morrow,staying there. Ed warning Barbie not to go there since there's a psycho the loose Barbie still is confident that she's never run into him. Meeting Benny at the house the two,like birds of a feather, are immediately attracted to each other since their both cut from the same cloth or cookie cutter. So much so that Ed, who looks after the house, gets greatly upset when arriving at the place and sees them there. Ed trying to get Barbie to leave in her car, before the sparks starts flying, has things get's very out of hand with Benny demanding why his girlfriend Melessa didn't show up with Ed like he told him she would which greatly aggravated Benny!
***SPOILER**** The reason that Malissa didn't show up was because she wasn't in any condition to do so. And it was Barbie in her insisting that she go to her uncle's country house who set off a series of unforeseen events that ended up putting her in the very same condition and place that we were soon to find Malissa in!
This is a standout episode worth watching
CoastalCruiser27 July 2012
Although this episode in and of itself, as other reviewers have commented, is not that great, there are several aspects to the story that make this entry quite noteworthy.
Number one is the enticing dance performed by actress Barbara Cook that opens the show. Wow! A slow, steamy grind that has all eyes, including those of the other ladies present, on Barbara. Although she is supposed to be playing a bad girl (in fact, an over-the-top, and therefore not all that believable bad girl), the dance is actually a great example of the timeless expression of femininity. It's not a "dirty dancing" performance at all. Rather it's seductive and at the same time a riveting example of a well shaped woman putting her curves in motion in a manner that both sexes can enjoy.
(btw - another episode that comes to mind in this genre is the very first Hitchcock Presents episode in the series; REVENGE. A young and stunning Vera Miles ('The Man who shot Liberty Valence', The Wrong Man') shows up in a one-piece bathing suit. I always thought this actress was attractive, but she knocks your socks off in this installment. For 1955, the amount of skin she exposes can only be measured in acres. My eyes actually popped out of my head.)
Anyway, also note the people in the dance scene sitting around Barbara watching her dance. Their body positions. The look on their faces. The concentration of beautiful women. You would almost expect to see such a scene in an installment of Playboy After Dark, which of course had not even been invented yet.
A couple of other things to watch for in this episode is the scene when Barbara shows up at her cabin and drinks a beer offered to her by Vic Morrow. It's an over-sized can labeled simply "BEER" in giant lettering. This must be the days before product placement took hold. Also check out the can of whatever Vic Morrow is eating his "dinner" out of. It was opened upside down! Fit the character perfectly. Someone was paying attention to the details here.
And check out that 1st generation T-bird Barbara is driving!! Looks like a '57, but I'm not an expert.
In the end though, as mentioned, this is not a very believable story. You have the selfish, self centered Barbara character abandoning her boyfriend on the side of a road in the middle of NOWHERE at 2AM, with no jacket, simply for being boring. I don't think so. Then you have the demented Vic Morrow character murdering this woman. Far more likely is that he would rape this fox! At least before the murder. Perhaps Hitchcock felt that murder was more palatable to 1950s audiences than sexual assault (it is only referenced indirectly in the aforementioned REVENGE episode). Perhaps that is still true today. Perhaps I even agree. I think I would rather be dead than undergo a rape (being a guy I'm thinking along the lines of prison rape). Yeah. I'd rather be murdered.
Finally, and on an entirely different note, I would have bet money that it was Vic DAMONE who died in that helicopter crash while filming The Twilight Zone, not Vic MORROW. I have always believed it to be Vic Damone, from those Coppertone commercials, who died in that tragic accident ever since the event occurred. Weird. I think I may be in a time warp or something. I mean what, am I going to wake up one morning and find out that Leonard Nimoy played Captain Kirk and Bill Shatner played Spock? And it will all seem normal??
Number one is the enticing dance performed by actress Barbara Cook that opens the show. Wow! A slow, steamy grind that has all eyes, including those of the other ladies present, on Barbara. Although she is supposed to be playing a bad girl (in fact, an over-the-top, and therefore not all that believable bad girl), the dance is actually a great example of the timeless expression of femininity. It's not a "dirty dancing" performance at all. Rather it's seductive and at the same time a riveting example of a well shaped woman putting her curves in motion in a manner that both sexes can enjoy.
(btw - another episode that comes to mind in this genre is the very first Hitchcock Presents episode in the series; REVENGE. A young and stunning Vera Miles ('The Man who shot Liberty Valence', The Wrong Man') shows up in a one-piece bathing suit. I always thought this actress was attractive, but she knocks your socks off in this installment. For 1955, the amount of skin she exposes can only be measured in acres. My eyes actually popped out of my head.)
Anyway, also note the people in the dance scene sitting around Barbara watching her dance. Their body positions. The look on their faces. The concentration of beautiful women. You would almost expect to see such a scene in an installment of Playboy After Dark, which of course had not even been invented yet.
A couple of other things to watch for in this episode is the scene when Barbara shows up at her cabin and drinks a beer offered to her by Vic Morrow. It's an over-sized can labeled simply "BEER" in giant lettering. This must be the days before product placement took hold. Also check out the can of whatever Vic Morrow is eating his "dinner" out of. It was opened upside down! Fit the character perfectly. Someone was paying attention to the details here.
And check out that 1st generation T-bird Barbara is driving!! Looks like a '57, but I'm not an expert.
In the end though, as mentioned, this is not a very believable story. You have the selfish, self centered Barbara character abandoning her boyfriend on the side of a road in the middle of NOWHERE at 2AM, with no jacket, simply for being boring. I don't think so. Then you have the demented Vic Morrow character murdering this woman. Far more likely is that he would rape this fox! At least before the murder. Perhaps Hitchcock felt that murder was more palatable to 1950s audiences than sexual assault (it is only referenced indirectly in the aforementioned REVENGE episode). Perhaps that is still true today. Perhaps I even agree. I think I would rather be dead than undergo a rape (being a guy I'm thinking along the lines of prison rape). Yeah. I'd rather be murdered.
Finally, and on an entirely different note, I would have bet money that it was Vic DAMONE who died in that helicopter crash while filming The Twilight Zone, not Vic MORROW. I have always believed it to be Vic Damone, from those Coppertone commercials, who died in that tragic accident ever since the event occurred. Weird. I think I may be in a time warp or something. I mean what, am I going to wake up one morning and find out that Leonard Nimoy played Captain Kirk and Bill Shatner played Spock? And it will all seem normal??
A reactionary fantasy
El Cine28 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The good cast includes star Barbara Cook (Broadway's first Marian Paroo in "The Music Man") in a rare screen performance, and also Jack Mullaney, an amusing and fun actor whom this series unfortunately only used in lame episodes (except for Decoy). There's a rather intriguing mystery here in which the claims of two brothers are pitted against each other, and we wonder which of them is telling the truth about a murdered woman. But it is mostly buried under the episode's obvious preoccupation, which is punishing the female protagonist.
For the bulk of its running time, the episode is simply building up Barbie Hallem as a wayward woman to be disapproved of. We see she is a wealthy bachelorette who openly smokes, drinks, and dances seductively, sometimes at debauched parties. She clearly enjoys her power and confidence. She is also promiscuous, fickle, and callous with her men. After suggesting fidelity to one earnest suitor, she thinks nothing of kissing another man right in front of him; later she tricks the boyfriend out of her car and abandons him on a desolate road in the middle of the night cause she feels like it. The car, by the way, is a swanky convertible, and she is driving it to the cabin she inherited, acting on a whim in the wee hours of the morning after a party.
All this build-up is necessary, for if the female was instead a kind, selfless family man or even a housewife the moral lesson would be lost, as would the secret satisfaction at her punishment. "I'll stand if you don't mind," Barbie tells a male character at one point. But the men do mind. And the like-minded men in the audience get to see Barbie put in her place. One man criticizes her for being a rich woman tooling around in a luxury convertible, and ominously hints that the murdered woman was just like that, as if being a flighty rich gal is inviting death. And indeed, the true murderer suddenly turns on Barbie and kills her with his bare hands after she reveals how she ditched the boyfriend because he "bored" her. Now she'll lie down for good instead of standing up.
For the bulk of its running time, the episode is simply building up Barbie Hallem as a wayward woman to be disapproved of. We see she is a wealthy bachelorette who openly smokes, drinks, and dances seductively, sometimes at debauched parties. She clearly enjoys her power and confidence. She is also promiscuous, fickle, and callous with her men. After suggesting fidelity to one earnest suitor, she thinks nothing of kissing another man right in front of him; later she tricks the boyfriend out of her car and abandons him on a desolate road in the middle of the night cause she feels like it. The car, by the way, is a swanky convertible, and she is driving it to the cabin she inherited, acting on a whim in the wee hours of the morning after a party.
All this build-up is necessary, for if the female was instead a kind, selfless family man or even a housewife the moral lesson would be lost, as would the secret satisfaction at her punishment. "I'll stand if you don't mind," Barbie tells a male character at one point. But the men do mind. And the like-minded men in the audience get to see Barbie put in her place. One man criticizes her for being a rich woman tooling around in a luxury convertible, and ominously hints that the murdered woman was just like that, as if being a flighty rich gal is inviting death. And indeed, the true murderer suddenly turns on Barbie and kills her with his bare hands after she reveals how she ditched the boyfriend because he "bored" her. Now she'll lie down for good instead of standing up.
ENOUGH SLEEP FOR A NIGHTMARE!
tcchelsey26 March 2024
This was a showcase for popular Broadway singer and actress Barbara Cook, playing "Barbie." Series writer Robert C. Dennis wrote this thriller and --to this day --I often wonder if the character (in an offbeat way) had a link to the famous Barbie doll, introduced about a year later? Interesting.
Cook plays a beautiful, carefree blonde, blessed with everything (sound familiar?), who dumps her boyfriend, frowns on society and heads off to a cabin in the country to re-assess her life.
She's not alone... and here's the twist.
Vic Morrow enters the picture as a strange guy called Benny, and not the type pretty Barbie should mess with. Watching these two characters play off each other is fascinating. Morrow's character is reminiscent of the role he played in THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE a few years earlier.
Much credit to director Paul Henreid, who always got the best performances from his cast. What a trip, and what an ending. Look for some familiar old timers, namely Douglas Kennedy, veteran of classic westerns.
SEASON 2 EPISODE 38 remastered. 2006.
Cook plays a beautiful, carefree blonde, blessed with everything (sound familiar?), who dumps her boyfriend, frowns on society and heads off to a cabin in the country to re-assess her life.
She's not alone... and here's the twist.
Vic Morrow enters the picture as a strange guy called Benny, and not the type pretty Barbie should mess with. Watching these two characters play off each other is fascinating. Morrow's character is reminiscent of the role he played in THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE a few years earlier.
Much credit to director Paul Henreid, who always got the best performances from his cast. What a trip, and what an ending. Look for some familiar old timers, namely Douglas Kennedy, veteran of classic westerns.
SEASON 2 EPISODE 38 remastered. 2006.
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