General Electric Theater (TV Series) The Cold Touch (1958) User Reviews

Well worth seeing.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 10 June 2018]

Faux chinese man--harris "I'm Your Husband..." tucker and erickson

This episode of "General Electric Theater" stars Bette Davis, Forrest Tucker and Leif Erickson...as well as a VERY odd appearance by "Lost in Space" actor Jonathan Harris...as a Chinese man!!

The Van Burens are stopping off in Hong Kong on their way home from song long trip abroad. However, when Mr. Van Buren is called to the telephone, he never returns...and Mrs. Van Buren is naturally worried. The police don't seem terribly concerned but a Chinese man soon approaches Mrs. Van Buren and offers to help. How he is able to help and what happens next is VERY unusual and offers lots of surprises.

The story is very well written and Davis is just fine in the lead. As for Jonathan Harris as a Chinese guy, sadly that sort of casting was the norm back in the day...so I'll deduct a point for this.

Got detained down in old Hong Kong

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 12 September 2020]

Bette Davis sars as a woman traveling to Hong Kong with her husband Forrest Tucker when Tucker up and disappears. Soon afterward Leif Erickson who is similar to Tucker's height, hair coloring anf build arrives and says until they are back in the USA he will be her husband.

Erickson is a known criminal who was deported and has cooked up this scheme as a way back to America. In desperation Davis hires Hong Kong Sam one who has his fingers in many pies to find Tucker.

This was a good suspense thriller and if it weren't for the casting of Jonathan Harris in that Asian role this drama from General Electric Theater would rate higher. Harris of the impeccable English diction and Bronx upbringing sounds and looks like a bad imitation of Fu Manchu. Really atrocious and insulting, wasn't Philip Ahn or Keye Luke available?

Still Bette's fans should like it.

TV Anthology: Keeping the stars of yesteryear working!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 8 March 2018]

In the golden age of Hollywood, stars like Bette Davis wouldn't be bothered by their studio shorts department unless it was to appear as themselves in some promotional bit. As their careers died down and movie business declined, the short films disappeared from the big screen, making their way to television as a regular part of what would come to be known as the anthology series. If a star like Loretta Young and Barbara Stanwyck could host one, it gave them regular work; When a sponsor like Schlitz or G.E. came aboard, a plethora of available actors of stage and screen went to work for the quick buck. The golden age of the silver screen may have dwindled, but the golden age of television began, and in looking back at these programs which are more and more becoming available, what a golden age it was.

Streamlined versions of novels, Broadway plays and even classic movies got the small screen treatment, and when stars like Bette Davis weren't being offered regular film work, they would turn to television to continue to be seen so film producers would notice and hopefully offer them something more substantial. Here, Bette plays a seemingly happily married woman visiting the orient whose husband (Forrest Tucker) disappears after leaving her in a hotel bar to take a phone call. She begins to question everybody they had previously encountered, and finds attitudes not only mysterious but sinister. A man pretending to be her husband is found waiting in their suite, creating more intrigue. All this happens in the period of less than half an hour, which means that there is not a lot of time for detail. Jonathan Harris ("Lost in Space's" Dr. Smith) is seen as an officious hotel clerk, and Aki Aleong is one of the hotel workers who was previously helpful whose sudden vague expression leaves Davis more baffled. Not altogether satisfying, it's still a nice chance to see Davis dominating the screen, even if the detail that you are used to seeing in her other roles is sorely lacking.