The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) House Guest (1962) User Reviews

Very good episode

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 14 May 2022]

A young boy named Tony Mitchell is saved from drowning by an unwelcome guest. The guest is Robert Stirling, a seemingly normal guy but when the boys parents show their gratitude by inviting to stay with them, things take a drastic turn: the guest shows his true colours.

This is an edge of seat entry, kept me glue to the screen, and the twist was quite good. There's fine performances all around, especially from Robert Stirling, who plays a creepy man ( he's also a sexual predator). The tension is racked up nicely as the events unravel.

Macdonald Carey and Robert Sterling

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 19 February 2012]

"House Guest" begins with Sally Mitchell (Peggy McCay) relaxing on a California beach with her son Tony (Billy Mumy), who starts to drown off shore until he is rescued by a stranger, Ray Roscoe (Robert Sterling). Tony's father John (Macdonald Carey) is so grateful to Ray that he allows the drifter to stay with the family for a few days, which extends to weeks. Ray is soon revealed to be rather shiftless, spotted by young Tony flirting with the maid (Linda Rand), then getting involved in an auto accident with George Sherston (Karl Swenson), and later accused of assaulting George's wife Eve (Adele Mara). A blackmailing Ray refuses to leave unless John gives him 20,000 dollars, which John refuses, but when George shows up with a gun to kill Ray, John knocks Ray out in a brief scuffle. George insists on keeping the incident quiet as he fears losing his government job, offering to drive Ray to the hospital alone, later phoning John with the news that Ray has died. Still acting alone, George ends up burying the corpse himself, while John and Sally discover a letter addressed to Ray among their mail, indicating that someone else knew that the deceased was a guest in their home. Also among the fine cast is 72 year old Hollywood veteran Robert Armstrong ("King Kong"), who would retire from acting in 1964, and passed away in 1973.

"Well, I told you. Saving lives is a hobby of mine."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 22 August 2022]

If you've seen a fair number of Hitchcock stories, your antenna ought to go up early on this one. I got a very telling vibe when Captain Faulkner showed up in the story, leading me to consider that a major scam was being perpetrated that involved Ray Roscoe (Robert Sterling), George Sherston (Karl Swenson), and the captain (Robert Armstrong) himself, all collaborating to bilk the Mitchell's (Macdonald Carey, Peggy McCay) out of twenty thousand dollars. The big question mark in the episode is why John Mitchell would hand over twenty grand to Captain Faulkner when he wouldn't do so to blackmailer Roscoe. That just didn't make sense to me, and even though Mr. Mitchell had qualms about going to the police, he eventually made the right decision in the end, going along with his wife's judgment. The ending might have felt like a real twist if Hitchcock's earlier series ("Alfred Hitchcock Presents") hadn't prepared me to consider all possibilities on the way to a conclusion.

Suspenseful, but Needs Better Solution

[dougdoepke · 13 February 2015]

We know something's wrong with the glibly handsome Ray Roscoe (Sterling), but what. Nonetheless, he's saved prosperous Mitchell's (Carey) son's (Mumy) life, so now Mitchell takes in the footloose Ray as a house guest, soon discovering that was a mistake.

It's a suspenseful entry with nice guy Sterling making effective use of his charming persona. My guess is Sterling's part was written specifically for him. The story's upshot is not very persuasive, but getting there is more than half the fun. Carey's suitably sturdy as the school owner, along with wife Mc Kay. Good to see fine utility actor Swenson, along with King Kong's Robert Armstrong picking up a payday. It's not top-notch Hitch since the solution really is a stretch. Yet, the plot provides a typical Hitchcock guessing game that compensates for a lot.

Beware of Grifters

[kerrydragon · 8/10 · 25 September 2020]

I have seen this episode at least 3 times as I think it's one of Hitchcock's better ones.Everyone is interesting and the casting is a good mix of actors.Robert Sterling is excellent as a charismatic conman and so good looking.Billy Mumy in one of his many roles as a boy always made a memorable presence.I like stories about grifters and was kept guessing what would happen right to the end.

Familiar actors make it even better

[kellielulu · 8/10 · 31 October 2022]

MacDonald Carey and Peggy McKay played two of the most down to earth characters on Days of Out Lives and they do the same here as John and Sally Mitchell. Billy Mumy plays their son Tony in a pivotal role but plays a more minor part then usual.

Robert Sterling plays the grifter and Karl Swenson ( Little House on The Prairie) plays another critical part here although not what he first appears to be . All make it an an interesting and entertaining episode.

Some of it I guessed such as Sterling's character not actually being dead but it's late in the episode before it's revealed that every character this family runs across here ( except for a girl living with them) is in on the plot.

John Mitchell is a teacher/professor and is a decent man . Sally Mitchell is sensible and clear thinking traits not always given to female characters at the time. Sterling's character supposedly saved Tony and the grateful parents invite him to stay for a while. It's a mistake they quickly regret as Ray's plot is put into action. All is revealed in the final moments. John in the end takes Sally's advice and brings the police in .

Sally figured out some of it but not all and it's the one thing she did that goes against her common sense nature as she confronts the people involved on her own. Fortunately it all works out.

Sterling's conventional good looks and easy charm made him perfect for this role. He's both a grifter and predator ( to the girl staying with the Mitchell family ) .

A well written and casted episode.

Don't Take a Check!

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 6 May 2023]

Robert Sterling (from the old show Topper) is a cad. He rescues a little boy played by spooky Billy Mumy. The family shows their gratitude by allowing hime to stay with them. He is an irresponsible jerk and becomes a constant source of trouble. But this is only the start when his flirting with women, especially the wife of another man, drags the family into a potentially deadly situation. It's sort of fun if you don't think too much the realities of the whole thing. The ending is a bit hard to swallow. One thing that bothered me was when he gave one of the guys a check as payment. A check is a questionable form of payment because it can be stopped so easily. Remember it is 1962.

Everybody hates Raymond.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 28 April 2021]

When the story begins, a mother and her young son (Billy Mumy) are at the beach. When the mother isn't looking, the boy wanders out too far in the water and nearly drowns. Fortunately (or maybe not) a stranger swims out and saves the boy. The mother is naturally grateful and invites the man home to have dinner with the family. At first, things are wonderful...but after a while, Ray (Robert Sterling) is a most unwanted houseguest. In fact, he is a bit of a pig...and he soon begins making unwanted passes at the maid and others....and seems like a dangerous sort of guy. Finally, the family has had enough and want him to go...whether he saved the kid or not. And then, that's when Ray begins threatening them.

This story is very difficult to believe. While a family might be in debt to a guy like this at first, Ray clearly is a sex offender and creep. I cannot imagine why they put up with this for so long and it really seemed poorly written. It was also poorly written when Ray attacked the husband...and the wife just stood there doing nothing...hoping the hubby would prevail! And, with the other husband whose wife is attacked by Ray...well, his reaction is confusing and doesn't make a lot of sense. And, after all this, they STILL didn't contact the police!! And, what happens next...well that is REALLY hard to believe!! So, when the twist occurs, it was just too late for me. As a result of the poor writing, I found myself feeling irritated with the show after a while...and just lost interest.

poorly directed, just OK episode

[HEFILM · 5/10 · 28 August 2013]

It is uniformly well acted--as is most always the case with this series but if you remove that there isn't much left. It's not bad but it's not real credible either.

The opening beach scene which involves an almost drowning is really badly directed. There are several shots where Billy Mumy is obviously making himself sink and rise in water that isn't in really moving--he's supposed to be caught in waves. There is also an almost Karate movie zoom in. The whole thing gets off on the wrong foot. Later there is some very soap operaish blocking of actors facing the camera and not each other and posing awkwardly on furniture to avoid having to shoot more coverage. Crosland was a TV veteran director but this is poor work.

Billy Mumy vanishes from the story about 2/3rds of the way through which is odd as his relationship with the HOUSE GUEST character could have lead to some real drama. There are some things that are like Hitchcock's film SHADOW OF A DOUBT in this episode, but what makes that great are missing here, other than a good performance by that film's male hero.

So there is no dramatic pay off to the relationships of Mummy and Sterling's characters instead it all becomes rather a preposterous series of events and too many characters and then it wraps things up too neatly. The final lines are also terrible. Was it that this was all supposed to be played as more of a black comedy--though it wouldn't have been a very funny one, maybe it was, as Slesar is one of the writers, adapting a novel, perhaps this was his intention but a rewrite and the way the whole thing is performed and done it seems like it's supposed to be a dramatic crime drama. So it ends up just being kind of dull but not terrible.

There is one nice optical effect in the middle of the show that stands out because there is no style at all to the rest of it. Robert Armstrong is fun to see and the cast is strong but this one can probably be skipped pretty easily. Lyn Murray's original music score doesn't bring much to the table. This episode would rank as one of producer Joan Harrison's semi-dudes for the series.

Another ridiculous, weak entry

[Ripshin · 24 December 2023]

Ok, this has been addressed by another reviewer...but a mother who can't swim, takes her young child to a beach with no lifeguard, and turns her back on him to read, when he goes swimming. Plus, the son has already told her there is a single man floating in the water. DUH.

Then people do really stupid things, and resist informing the police for a variety of ludicrous reasons.

The final scene - good grief.

I wonder...if they faked the burial of Roscoe, WHAT was George doing with the shovel, covering the spot where Roscoe had NOT actually been buried? Neither of the Mitchell's were witnessing this action, and everyone else knew there was no body.

The acting on these hour-long episodes is often over-the-top.