![]() 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. Body definitely falls into that category. And some feature people who possess a measure of refinement and education that allows for easy identification for the sophisticated viewer. Body In the Barn doesn't have that level of intensity. Quite a few are either outright horror tales or feature suspense ratcheted up to such a level that they may as well be horrors. The Hitchcock hours tend to fall into different categories. 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. And unless I missed something, the scales of justice don't exactly balance out at hour's end. On a lighter note, Gish survived to age 99, and after seeing this, I'm not surprised Anyway, the entry holds interest by not telegraphing where it's going. Something like the downside of the celebrity ladder, I guess. And on a really somber note, both she and Cutts died by their own hand at age 48. I guess she had trouble acceding to Hollywood's commercial demands. Too bad McNamara quit the business after this outing. And isn't that former RKO leading man Kent Smith as the doctor. Anyone seeing that energy burst ought to know her character is no one to mess with. I can't believe it, but is that really a 70-year old Gish dashing up the road in the opening scene. Meanwhile Gish doesn't trust anybody- always a wise move in a Hitchcock story. So when he disappears and a decomposed body turns up in their barn, it looks bad for the wife. Hayes thinks mean wife Cutts might kill him. There's an ice queen neighbor (Cutts), her meek and mild husband (Hayes), an Audrey Hepburn look-alike (McNamara), and above all, a feisty old matriarch (Gish). The narrative's as twisty as a mountain road, nonetheless stick with the hour since the ironies do pile up. "Body in the Barn" is one of THE ALFRED HITCHOCK HOUR's finest hours. The whole cast is good but this is Lillian's show. This fantastic mystery/suspense has echoes of REAR WINDOW - and HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, although the latter film hadn't even been made yet - and Miss Gish is simply superb in this film, cast against type as a not always very likable woman. And when Peter shows up missing and the days turn into weeks and months and the woman refuses to give any information about his whereabouts, Lillian is convinced after spying on the woman with binoculars that something fishy is going on at her barn. Gossip-loving Lil takes in all of Peter's private confidences to Maggie, that his wife once attempted to murder him and he fears she will try again should he ever leave her. ![]() Lillian's niece Maggie McNamara lives with her in her large farmhouse and Maggie tries to make peace with the neighbors, particularly with the woman's mild mannered hen-pecked husband Peter Lind Hays. Miss Gish stars as a cranky, nosy old gal in ill health who has long feuded with her neighbor and blames her for the death of an elderly man who plummeted off a cliff thanks to a fence the neighbor put up. This fantastic episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR from 1963 showcases Miss Lillian as good as anything she ever did in the sound film era. The great Lillian Gish, one of the legends of the silent screen, was a superlative actress throughout her life.
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