Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Fog Closing In (1956) User Reviews

Excellent.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 29 December 2013]

Phyllis Thaxter plays Mary Summers. Mrs. Summers is a rather hysterical lady who always is worried about impending doom. And, since her husband is going away on a business trip, she's even more fearful than usual. Oddly, when an escaped mental patient (George Grizzard) breaks in, she is oddly relaxed around him and even sees him as a kindred spirit of sorts. She talks to him lovingly and instead of running or calling the police, she talks to him about how difficult it is being afraid. And, when attendants from the hospital arrive at Mary's house looking for the escapee, she lies to protect him. What gives?!

This is a very good episode of the series due to a wonderful twist ending. All around, the series was firing on all four cylinders here--well written, directed and acted.

A crazy man breaks in on a crazier woman.

[willyrusso · 8/10 · 2 February 2021]

Funny story. A nut finds a nuttier nut. I enjoy the irony of a madman finding his match in this short story.

Doesn't Quite Come Off

[telegonus · 6/10 · 24 June 2017]

I found Fog Closing In a disappointing early second season entry of Hitchcock Presents. The story concerns a woman afraid of being alone, accustomed to living with her parents even years after marriage, now relocated to the west coast, she appears to be in a fearful state much of the time for the first part of the episode, as her husband is preparing for a business trip.

When she finds an intruder in the house,--an escaped mental patient--he draws out her empathy, and there appears for a few minutes some genuine hope for these two, maybe even a relationship down the road, as he responds to her with a genuine understanding her husband never showed. There's no real hint of a blossoming romance, as the home intruder, while fearful, even likable, none the less appears unstable.

In a short period of time the once anxious woman comes to achieve a measure of equipoise she had not previously displayed due to the strange man's eliciting a strong emotional response in her. After he exits the scene when there's a knock on the door the house is searched by two men from the mental hospital, who then depart, after which the viewer might expect serenity to prevail and healing to begin.

The woman is once again alone, lies down on her bed, hears the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs,--sounds she had previously related as part of a recurring nightmare, this time for real--and what she does is totally out of character: she shoots her husband, who had unexpectedly returned home. What had begun as an interesting character study, then turned into a suspense story, ended up as a psycho-drama with a sensational ending.

It's too bad the story wasn't better thought out. The actors were good, Phyllis Thaxter especially, in the leading role; and the set-up seemed promising at first. Even the intrusion of the escaped madman who turns out to be harmless was promising, if not well developed. This is the kind of story the later Alfred Hitchcock Hour handled much better. The mix of serious psychology and what ended as a tale of murder doesn't quite come off.

Madness and fog

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 20 April 2022]

"Fog Closing In" is the third entry of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' directed by Herschel Daugherty. The other two being "The Belfry", very good and underrated, and "The Creeper", which was one of the standout episodes of Season 1. It is also the second episode that sees Phyllis Thaxter in the lead role, the other being the very good "Never Again", which she is excellent in. The premise did sound unnerving and was really hoping that it would a lot better than the disappointing previous outing.

Luckily it most certainly was and it would definitely take a lot for anybody here to be as awful as Tita Purdom was in that. "Fog Closing In" is not great and is far from perfect, with it being a case of the lead performance being better than the episode itself. It is also not on par with Daugherty's previous outings. For all its faults though, "Fog Closing In" does have more than enough to make it worth recommending. Particularly the acting.

It is an episode that would have benefitted from a much longer length, a lot happens and there is a lot of complex psychology attempted but it did ideally need to be feature length to do it justice. This way, it felt too short and too hasty.

Also thought it could have done a lot more with the subject, it starts off very promisingly and unsettlingly but then feels rushed and suffers from the shortness of the length. The psychological aspect is intriguing initially but is too under the surface and not skin deep enough, it's complex stuff that is under-developed and could have done with more clarity.

With all that being said, Thaxter is truly excellent and is both chilling and moving as a rootable character. George Grizzard has some nice sympathetic support with her and Phillip Langton is easy to hate. Daugherty directs asssuredly and provides a nice unsettling atmosphere in primarily the first half. Hitchcock is suitably dry-humoured, likewise with his lines.

The production values are solid enough and the main theme fits like a glove. The script is intelligent and not rambling or overwrought, while there are enough moments that are suspenseful and emotionally investable. The ending could have had more time to develop but doesn't feel too much like a cop out or anaemic, it certainly surprised me.

Overall, a big improvement if not great. 7/10.

"What is it you're afraid of?"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 5 August 2021]

As she explains it, Mary Summers (Phyllis Thaxter) experienced a traumatic childhood event to which her father came to the rescue. Ever since she's felt helpless and paranoid whenever left alone, and her husband (Paul Langton) is going away on a business trip. What doesn't feel right about the episode is her reaction to an escaped mental patient who sneaks into her home, who is even more paranoid than she is. They gradually come to empathize with each other's plight, almost to the point where they feel like kindred spirits who would be better off together than Mary with her own husband. The story doesn't take it that far, but what follows is even more bizarre. After the white coats arrive to cart Ted Lambert (George Grizzard) back to the state hospital, Mary enters a catatonic state while recreating the circumstances of a recurring dream she has that always ends badly. This time though, it ends badly for Arthur Summers, who ironically, was trying to do the right thing.

A better episode, but, I believe the format hurts it.

[b_kite · 6/10 · 6 May 2021]

A better episode this time around as we follow Phyllis Thaxter as a housewife who is left alone for the week while her salesman husband is off for business. From what we can gather she's been babied by her parents and her husband has moved them all the way to the west coast to get her away from them. As a result she's uneasy about everything. The principle of the episode is that she is pretty much on the brink of madness and weather or not she can overcome this, her interactions with a escaped mental patient who's harmless seems to help as he seems more understanding then her husband at times. The ending goes the typical route imagined, but, I feel this story suffers from the 25 minute format as we need to take a long look into this woman to get were she's coming from, they do good with what they can, but, still. Also there's a character mentioned who is suppose to come stay with her as company that never shows up nor is ever mentioned again, she has a casting credit on here, but, her scenes say deleted, which leaves her fate totally unknown.

Sometimes you feel like a nut!

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 30 October 2008]

A scriptwriter needs to play fair. There is something really lacking in this episode. If you are going to deal with mental problems, you need to lay a foundation for it. Just being afraid and upset isn't enough. A woman finds herself facing a threat and even though she is petrified of life, she latches on to her potential assailant. I suppose she understands him and pities him, but it just doesn't wash. The husband isn't a bad sort and he really cares about her. Again, we need some glimpse into the psyche of this lady and it isn't really forthcoming. She seems a bit too well adjusted when the intruder comes, even at the start and that's why it fails.

Phyllis Thaxter: Looking good!

[gregorycanfield · 9/10 · 4 March 2022]

I was absolutely struck by Phyllis Thaxter's "look" in this episode. She looked very nice, very pretty, very sexy! This definitely makes the story more effective. Phyllis's character is depicted as having some kind of "fear" of the outside world. She is supposedly too dependent on her parents. Her "problem" is never really defined. This is OK, though. The story is more suspenseful for this reason. George Grizzard (surprisingly effective here) plays an escaped mental patient. Phyllis's casual reaction, upon finding him inside her home, makes it clear that she has something in common with this man. The story builds to a surprising climax, which I won't reveal. Phyllis Thaxter also appeared in an earlier episode, where she looked pretty bad. In this episode, she looks good! Throughout the episode, she never smiles, but she always looks pretty. The more disturbed her character becomes, the more pretty she looks! I just loved her in this episode. I hope there is another episode with Phyllis, somewhere down the road.

Among Fog, mental health conditions of an insecure wife!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 21 April 2023]

This turn Hitch introduces a hint exposing the Fog supposing that it is pure popular imaginary somehow here the master taking the piss out of our face due the fog is London's trademark, then the master was so sharp than never.

The episode is a kind of weirdo offering about an insecure married woman Mary Sommers (Phyllis Thaxter) that almost beg for her husband Arthur Summers (Paul Langton) to accept their parents to live together at the couple home, however Arthur makes clear that it wasn't suitable and suggest Mary to treat with psychiatrist, prompted denied by Mary that state no insane at all, thus his husband works as travelling salesman, already be ready to go to work, at home Mary hear something crack, when she'll certificates a cat brought down a vase, but also a nut man Ted Lambert (George Grizzard) escapee from mental institution, Mary dealing him with kindness with nervous guy, the police already aware of such escape looking for the crazy man on neighborhood reaching at Mary's house soon that hurry up hidden him.

The outcome is tragic, I don't spoil nothing, however the episode is average presentation, but has some fine moments indeed including the unexpected final!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

Painful episode if you can relate to Mary's problem

[glitterrose · 10/10 · 4 July 2022]

Our lead characters are Mary and Ted. Mary's married to Arthur and Arthur seems to be at wit's end when it concerns Mary. I think he's trying his best to understand his wife's fears but he's also putting his foot down over the stuff he's tired over. Mary wants her parents to come live with them and Arthur isn't having it. This seems to be a pattern for Mary, always wanting her parents close by. Mary's lonely and she's scared to by herself. A lady is supposed to come stay with Mary while Arthur's away but she never shows up? There's no telling what happened to that lady. Arthur goes off and tells Mary to call her parents after a certain time because the rates are cheaper. Arthur goes off and Mary gets on the phone to even ask about the difference of the phones rates.

Mary hears a noise and goes off to investigate. A cat's in the house but it's also revealed a man that escaped from the asylum is also there. His name is Ted. Mary and Ted build up a friendship over their shared troubles involving fear. Mary even reveals something to Ted and she explains she never wanted to get married. Her parents lost their money and this was at least a way to take care of them. Mary also shares about a dream she's been haunted by and Ted can see this dream is bothering Mary and he tries his best to comfort her. Both genuinely show kindness and understanding to each other.

Some men are going around the neighborhood because they're looking for Ted. Mary looks after the new friend she's made and allows him to sneak out so he can avoid the men trying to recapture him. The men look for Ted in the house and leave when they come up empty.

Arthur shows back up at the house because he was worried about Mary since he had heard about a man escaping from the asylum. Mary's now in her own world and she points the gun at Arthur. She shoots him. She soon gets on the phone and calls her parents saying that now she can come home.

I like the episode but unfortunately I can relate to what Mary's going through in terms of fear. I can also relate to having had somebody in my life that fully can't grasp what it's like to pretty much be in a state of fear constantly. It's not fun and even Mary doesn't look like she's having fun.

The casting choice for Phyllis Thaxter is absolutely perfect. She does an excellent job with characters in trouble, whether it be playing an alcoholic or playing somebody with mental health problems.

Yet another weak entry

[Ripshin · 14 February 2024]

I found this episode to be completely pointless.

The performances don't hold up very well.

The plot is "all over the place."

The husband leaves the taxi waiting for SIX MINUTES?? I know it's the late 50s, but would a driver have waited so long, even then?

So, she shoots her husband, just so she can return to her parents? There is no adequate explanation in the plot. Just "mental illness" doesn't work in 2024.

So, "attendants" from the mental hospital search homes??? In white coats. Ridiculous. The police would have been involved.

"Golden Girls" connection. The escaped mental patient is played by George Grizzard, who portrayed Blanche's husband, George Devereaux.