From the first few minutes of this Studio One production, you know you're in for a very cringeworthy tv-play. Felicia Montealegre, the leading lady, really hams it up and aims for the back row. She plays John Conte's wife, and even though he's a psychiatrist, she has mental problems she's trying to cover up. She has strange dreams and an odd fear of orchids. Someone knows about her fear and starts sending flowers to her house - hence the title.
So why would anyone sit through it? To see Yul Brynner in his first year of making movies. It's very interesting because the audience isn't able to say, "He's so young!" like they normally do when revisiting an early role of a later established star. He's aged up to be an old man, with white hair and gaunt cheeks. He plays John's colleague, a wise Freudian-type, who doesn't really have much screen time. But the screen time he does get is far different than any other movie he made in his career. He has big, emotional scenes and breaks down and cries - can you imagine? If you can't, and you want to see Yul before he became Mr. Sexy (because he's certainly not in this), you can try sitting through Flowers from a Stranger.