TV SHOW OF THE DAY: "INCIDENT AT A CORNER " (1960)

Filmed for the NBC anthology series Ford Startime, "Incident At a Corner" was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock despite having his own weekly show on the same network. It likely had a slightly larger budget, considering it was shot in color and ran an hour (including commercials). Perhaps because of these pluses, it resembles the movies he was starting to make at Universal.

And look, it's COLOR. What more do you want?

It was certainly special enough to win the coveted "Close-Up" in that week's TV Guide. Its two-sentence story breakdown appears to tell you all you need to know. But this being Hitchcock, there's plenty of other drama to get you more involved more than first expected. 

 

 

 

Say it in Hitchcock's voice, and it seems threatening.

The titular incident that opens  the story -- an elementary school crossing guard named James Medwick harassing a driver who ran a stop sign -- is shown from three different perspectives: ours, a teacher's, and that of a couple across the street. With each one we discover there's no such thing as an objective viewer; everybody brings their own baggage to an event that otherwise wouldn't be worth a second glance. 

And this time pay attention!

For us, it's accepting what happened at face value. For the teacher, it's wanting to keep on the good side of Mrs. Hawley, the driver, who's an important figure at the school. And for the couple across the street, it's wanting to ruin James Medwick's reputation over another incident from decades earlier. 

Before the day is over, Medwick is fired and his adult daughter Jane, a tutor, loses her client, who happens to be the teenage son of Mrs. Hawley. Thanks to small-town gossip, Medwick has gone from being overzealous to possible pedophile. And he's not even a priest!

Hey, about a third view, just for fun?

While Medwick's son Jeff wants to move his parents away, Jane's fiance Pat intends to clear the old man's name. And so he begins his own investigation, going so far as seeking advice from a lawyer, who doesn't even charge a consulting fee. This is television.

Meanwhile, Hawley's teenage son gets revenge on the Medwick family by giving Jane a smack in the face that draws blood. But was it deliberate? An accident? Did anything we see actually happen the way it seemed? Taking it one step further, was what we heard at the original incident actually spoken the way anyone thought it was? I told you, pay attention!

"... And while you're at it, babe, get a
different hairstylist!"

Hitchcock shot Incident at a Corner immediately after Psycho, using the same crew (which came from his TV series) and actress (Vera Miles). Leading man George Peppard, still strictly a television actor at the time, is pretty much Robert Redford minus the charisma. While his insistence on clearing Medwick's name is commendable, he seems to be on the verge of punching everybody's lights out in the process.

 

I'm not sure what's more shocking -- anyone
would accuse this guy of a hideous crime,
or Paul Hartman was only 54 years old.

The guy who actually does a better job than Peppard is Paul Hartman as old man Medwick. Letting his heavy-lidded eyes do the emotional lifting, Hartman is quite sympathetic as the guard, who's become a criminal in the eyes of his neighbors without a shred of evidence. 

Hartman's dramatic portrayal is quite a change for a guy better known for as Emmett the handyman on The Andy Griffith Show and its spin-off Mayberry RFD, two other shows about the weird goings-on of a small town. If George Peppard had been the star, he'd have probably beat the hell out of Floyd the Barber just because.

This is what TV Heaven looks like.Top: Joe Flynn
(minus his usual glasses), Warren Berlinger, and
Philip Ober. Bottom: Jack Albertson, Eve McVeigh,
and Jerry Paris.

Others in the cast (left) make for a good snapshot of TV's familiar supporting actors at the time. Some were better known for comedies, and none were what you'd consider Hitchcock stalwarts. I'm not sure I ever said, "Oh, that guy!" so many times. The only one missing was Charles Lane, which is a shame. I'd have loved to see that human Grinch play a school crossing guard.

If you ever wondered what a Hitchock-directed
episode of Mayberry RFD would look like.

Nobody going into Incident at a Corner should expect the usual Hitchcock picture. Its low-budget and fast shooting schedule isn't going to be on the level of North by Northwest. I mean, it's a TV show, for heaven's sake.

But there's a particular way Hitchcock frames a shot and places the actors that is unique as his fingerprint. And nobody draws out the dark secrets and hidden agendas of ordinary people quite like him. 

As you can tell, Hitchcock
appreciates my advice.

Had Hitchcock wanted to, he likely could have expanded Incident at a Corner into a 90-minute feature, tossing in more background regarding the main characters and padding out scenes like those in the lawyer's office. But it would have been close to the level of his movie of five years earlier, The Trouble with Harry -- an interesting idea that didn't quite pan out.

At just under an hour, though, Incident at a Corner is less a "lost Hitchcock masterpiece" and more "forgotten Hitchcock surprise." And like the incident itself, it's worth more than one look. Best of all, it confirms your lack of faith in mankind. Way to go, Hitch!

                                                               

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