A domineering wife is suspected of murdering her husband when the body of an unrecognizable man is found buried in her barn.A domineering wife is suspected of murdering her husband when the body of an unrecognizable man is found buried in her barn.A domineering wife is suspected of murdering her husband when the body of an unrecognizable man is found buried in her barn.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode was originally scheduled to air on November 22, 1963 but it was preempted by the coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- Goofs"All of that quicklime" would have actually helped mummify and preserve the corpse, not hasten decomposition as the episode suggests. "Quicklime," i.e., calcium oxide (CaO), removes moisture from a corpse and retards decomposition.
- Quotes
Alfred Hitchcock - Host: That is the end of tonight's story. We would like to show you more, but we seem to be running out of characters.
- ConnectionsSpoofs The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Featured review
Genteel Entry
The Body In the Barn is a genteel entry of the Hitchcock hour and features, as another reviewer noted, a pitch perfect performance by Lillian Gish as a sick old biddy whose prying ways cause a lot of trouble in her sleepy, woodsy community when the body of a local working man is found in a barn.
The Hitchcock hours tend to fall into different categories. Some have comic undertones. This one doesn't. Quite a few are either outright horror tales or feature suspense ratcheted up to such a level that they may as well be horrors. Body In the Barn doesn't have that level of intensity. There are rural episodes and urban ones. And some feature people who possess a measure of refinement and education that allows for easy identification for the sophisticated viewer. Body definitely falls into that category. Another somewhat looser category is that of the domestic episode about people who know each other quite well, who either lives under the same roof or are close neighbors. This one is of the domestic variety.
I found Body In the Barn more a good character study than a strong story, featuring very good actors, not especially suspenseful or dramatically compelling. The characters are strong but the plot isn't. It held my interest yet failed to engage my sympathies. The good manners of the principals, some slightly better than average dialog and decent plot twists kept me watching till the end. It was pretty much Miss Gish's show, though it also features good work from Maggie McNamara, Kent Smith and, especially, Peter Lind Hayes. With a lesser player in the lead it would merely average.
The Hitchcock hours tend to fall into different categories. Some have comic undertones. This one doesn't. Quite a few are either outright horror tales or feature suspense ratcheted up to such a level that they may as well be horrors. Body In the Barn doesn't have that level of intensity. There are rural episodes and urban ones. And some feature people who possess a measure of refinement and education that allows for easy identification for the sophisticated viewer. Body definitely falls into that category. Another somewhat looser category is that of the domestic episode about people who know each other quite well, who either lives under the same roof or are close neighbors. This one is of the domestic variety.
I found Body In the Barn more a good character study than a strong story, featuring very good actors, not especially suspenseful or dramatically compelling. The characters are strong but the plot isn't. It held my interest yet failed to engage my sympathies. The good manners of the principals, some slightly better than average dialog and decent plot twists kept me watching till the end. It was pretty much Miss Gish's show, though it also features good work from Maggie McNamara, Kent Smith and, especially, Peter Lind Hayes. With a lesser player in the lead it would merely average.
Details
- Runtime48 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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