Excellent, pacey direction characterises this study in paranoia. Nominally SF, this episode works best on the level of pure nightmare, with the later episodes of this great anthology show leaning ever more strongly toward horror. Welcome Home retains a strong potency five decades on. Abandon logic, give in to the nightmare and brace yourself!
2 Reviews
Muddled psychological thriller.
poolandrews14 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Out of the Unknown: Welcome Home starts as psychiatrist Frank Bowers (Bernard Brown) is discharged from hospital after recovering from injuries sustained in a serious car crash, Bowers plans to travel by train to his wife Penny's (Jennifer Hilary) cottage & surprise her for their wedding anniversary. Once there Bowers enters the cottage & hugs Penny but she acts strangely claiming not to know him, then Penny calls for Frank & a man (Anthony Ainley) steps into the room claiming to be the real Frank Bowers who is a psychiatrist married to Penny. Both Frank Bower's accuse each other of being imposter's but only one has any identification, the new Frank Bowers phones the police but they don't believe him & leave the so-called real Frank Bowers to look after him & help him as a trained psychiatrist. As the two Frank Bowers are convinced they are the real thing they both can't be right so just what is going on & why does Penny seem so uneasy about the whole situation...
Episode six from season four of the British produced television series Out of the Unknown this one was directed by Eric Hills & definitely had potential as a mysterious psychological thriller but again poor scripting & sloppy storytelling ruin what could have been an effective & memorable piece of telly. The whole purpose the events that happen is never fully explained in any logical or convincing way, sure OK it's all some experiment but why completely try to change someone else's personality? Why try to change one person into another, why not just create a fictional person with a made up personality & then turn the subject into them? It might save a lot of confusion in the future, right? The way everything unfolded was too convenient as well, from the local police buying every word of it & failing to do anything to the way Bowers reacted. I suppose Welcome Home is some sort of warning about mind altering drugs & their unforeseen consequences but the whole thing is so absurd & far fetched it's impossible to take seriously, having said during the first half as the mystery builds & none of the experimental drug nonsense is revealed Welcome Home is quite effective & gripping as the basic mystery about who the real Frank Bowers is is quite good, it's just a shame it all falls apart in a silly twist ending that tries to be deep & psychological but comes across as poorly thought out with little explanation.
Originally broadcast during May 1971 this episode hasn't dated that badly at all, it's reasonably well made I suppose but hardly what you would call memorable in nay department. Welcome Home was the forty fourth Out of the Unknown episode & sadly only one more, episode forty six The Man in my Head (1971), still exists at the BBC. There some great sounding episodes that I will never see & unless you were around when they were originally shown then you never will either. The acting is alright, Anthony Ainley went on to play The Master in Doctor Who during the 80's.
Welcome Home starts off alright with an intriguing little mystery but then comes apart as the silly scientific nonsense takes over & the unconvincing psychological aspects creeps in, Welcome Home is a curiosity & worth a watch but I didn't think it was great by any means.
Episode six from season four of the British produced television series Out of the Unknown this one was directed by Eric Hills & definitely had potential as a mysterious psychological thriller but again poor scripting & sloppy storytelling ruin what could have been an effective & memorable piece of telly. The whole purpose the events that happen is never fully explained in any logical or convincing way, sure OK it's all some experiment but why completely try to change someone else's personality? Why try to change one person into another, why not just create a fictional person with a made up personality & then turn the subject into them? It might save a lot of confusion in the future, right? The way everything unfolded was too convenient as well, from the local police buying every word of it & failing to do anything to the way Bowers reacted. I suppose Welcome Home is some sort of warning about mind altering drugs & their unforeseen consequences but the whole thing is so absurd & far fetched it's impossible to take seriously, having said during the first half as the mystery builds & none of the experimental drug nonsense is revealed Welcome Home is quite effective & gripping as the basic mystery about who the real Frank Bowers is is quite good, it's just a shame it all falls apart in a silly twist ending that tries to be deep & psychological but comes across as poorly thought out with little explanation.
Originally broadcast during May 1971 this episode hasn't dated that badly at all, it's reasonably well made I suppose but hardly what you would call memorable in nay department. Welcome Home was the forty fourth Out of the Unknown episode & sadly only one more, episode forty six The Man in my Head (1971), still exists at the BBC. There some great sounding episodes that I will never see & unless you were around when they were originally shown then you never will either. The acting is alright, Anthony Ainley went on to play The Master in Doctor Who during the 80's.
Welcome Home starts off alright with an intriguing little mystery but then comes apart as the silly scientific nonsense takes over & the unconvincing psychological aspects creeps in, Welcome Home is a curiosity & worth a watch but I didn't think it was great by any means.
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