New York, 1910. Bookkeeper Al Birch expects the arrival of his sweetheart Edwina from 20 years ago. When she arrives, she is still every bit the lady. But she doesn't come alone.New York, 1910. Bookkeeper Al Birch expects the arrival of his sweetheart Edwina from 20 years ago. When she arrives, she is still every bit the lady. But she doesn't come alone.New York, 1910. Bookkeeper Al Birch expects the arrival of his sweetheart Edwina from 20 years ago. When she arrives, she is still every bit the lady. But she doesn't come alone.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJessica Tandy appears just two episodes after her husband, Hume Cronyn.
- GoofsThe character Edwina Freel holds a bottle of milk in her left hand and a key to open the door with her right. In the close up the bottle has completely disappeared as she opens the door with both hands.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Alfred Hitchcock: [Hitchcock looks down as steam rises] "Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
[the camera pulls back to reveal he's heating a baby bottle then pours a few drops on his wrist]
Alfred Hitchcock: I don't know why people do this. It's not at all good for the cuffs. Takes the starch out of them. I wonder if it does that to babies? Of course, that must be the idea. As you shall soon see, tonight's play bears a relation to the foregoing, however slight. It is a tragical, comical, historical, pastoral, musical mystery entitled "Toby." "Toby" takes place in New York in 1910. And on your television screen in just a moment.
- SoundtracksFuneral March of a Marionette
Written by Charles Gounod
While all the previous Season 2 are watchable or more, though the season did get off to an underwhelming start with "Wet Saturday", none of them wowed me. Even the best one, the pretty good "De Mortuis". "Toby" is another one of the Season 2 episodes that is worth a one time watch, but not wow-worthy. Not much wows here either, other than the cast in yet another Season 2 outing where the cast are better than the episode itself.
Am going to start with the good. Tandy is marvellous, alluring yet suitably enigmatic, and the main reason to see "Toby". Harris also comes off very well, bringing grit and also an affecting quality that makes him easy to sympathise with. The supporting cast are a very colourful lot, and the characters are all psychologically intriguing (a lot more so than the story).
Hitchcock's bookending is amusing and typically dry-humoured. The episode starts off quite well, the production values have some nice atmosphere and the main theme is haunting.
On the other hand, the story could have been a lot better. It could have had a good deal more tension and didn't feel that suspenseful. It is also rather safe and predictable with an ending that is not a surprise at all. More could have been done with the psychological aspect of it, the set up is intriguing and neat but it isn't fully explored and is not insightful enough.
Stevens' direction is competent but also undistinguished. The script could have been tauter and not felt as over-heated. It would have benefitted from being longer, 30 minutes is not long enough for a story like this and that's why the psychological aspect of the story suffered.
In conclusion, a rather mixed bag. 5/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Apr 22, 2022
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1