Screen Directors Playhouse (TV Series) A Ticket for Thaddeus (1956) User Reviews

They Don't Make Them Like This Any More

[bbrebozo · 8/10 · 21 January 2015]

What a nice little half hour! A poor hard-working refugee from a fascist Nazi regime learns a lesson about tolerance and justice in America. The Screen Director's Playhouse series hits yet another home run.

The entire cast was great, but I was especially impressed with Alan Hale Jr. and Raymond Bailey. Is it possible that the lovable Skipper from Gilligan's Island could credibly play an obnoxious and borderline racist butt hole? Answer: Yes! Great job. And is it possible that the cold-hearted money-hungry Mr. Drysdale from the Beverly Hillbillies could play a fair-minded and compassionate judge? Again, yes! And a bonus surprise: Raymond Bailey had a lot less hair in this show than his Mr. Drysdale did ten years later.

Old fashioned American patriotism, reverence for immigrants, and a very slow-paced traffic court hearing that would defy credibility in today's fast-paced world. You won't see anything like this again -- at least for a while.

Terrific Performance by O'Brien

[Michael_Elliott · 28 December 2011]

Screen Directors Playhouse: A Ticket for Thaddeus (1956)

**** (out of 4)

Frank Borzage directs this hard-hitting entry in the Hal Roach series. Polish immigrant Thaddeus Kubaczik (Edmond O'Brien) fears anyone in a uniform due to years of suffering in a concentration camp. One day he's involved in an accident and even though he didn't cause it he says he's guilty fearing that he's going to be sent to another camp. A TICKET FOR THADDEUS is a wonderful and rather remarkable little gem and I'm a little shocked that it's not better known and especially by those who are history buffs or those who try and see anything dealing with the Holocaust. I must admit that the film really took my breathe away because it's so well-made and sensitive that you can't help but really feel sorry for our lead character. I've seen O'Brien in quite a few movies but I honestly never knew he had this type of performance in him. Many people faced terror the rest of their lives after being released from these camps and just watching O'Brien here you'd feel that he really was in a camp. Just look at the terror in his face and eyes as he fears that he's going to be shipped off and away from his wife. I'm not sure what the actor did to get into the role but it's certainly one of the most memorable performances I've ever seen. The subject matter is a pretty dark one and I was surprised at how effective it was told. After all, this is just a 25-minute feature for TV but the subject matter is looked at in a respectful way and I think it's a pretty startling character study and an even better spotlight for the justice in this country when it was done right.

Telling to Me Personally

[boblipton · 10/10 · 6 December 2011]

Frank Borzage directed this entry in Hal Roach's Screen Director's Playhouse, with Edmond O'Brien in the lead and with Alan Hale Jr. and the ex-silent comic Clem Bevans in supporting roles. O'Brien plays a Polish emigrant, a survivor of the concentration camps, who gets into a traffic accident and is terrified that he will be shipped to another concentration camp.

This may seem way over the top to people nowadays, but not to me. My grandfather's second wife's son wound up in a concentration camp. He survived and made his way to America, where he spent the rest of his life in a state of constant terror. Experience had taught him this and he had learned his lesson well. So, watching O'Brien in the role -- well, they looked nothing at all alike, but the terror was very real. Once I had recognized this, it was an unsettlingly good performance.