S5.E21

The Frightened Witness

Name: The Frightened Witness
Genre: Drama
Released: 1957-02-19
Duration: 30 min
Rating: 6.9
Cast: Dan Duryea, Harold J. Stone, Barbara Billingsley

Episode aired Feb 19, 1957
Not Rated
30m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

Preston Foster in Cavalcade of America (1952)

Drama

Leaving his shop,a butcher witnesses a car run down a man on the street, but before he can give the police a description, he's threatened by a gangster.The victim was a crime investigator, a... Read allLeaving his shop,a butcher witnesses a car run down a man on the street, but before he can give the police a description, he's threatened by a gangster.The victim was a crime investigator, and the "accident" was a hit. The butcher and his family is stalked and terrorized by the c... Read allLeaving his shop,a butcher witnesses a car run down a man on the street, but before he can give the police a description, he's threatened by a gangster.The victim was a crime investigator, and the "accident" was a hit. The butcher and his family is stalked and terrorized by the crooks from then on.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

2User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

User reviews2

Featured review

Dull 1950s filler

A very poor script sinks this crime drama, devoid of interesting material. Complete with an unconving forced happy ending, it is a typical example of 1950s lukewarm entertainment.

Dan Duryea plays a butcher who witnesses a hit and run where a man is killed, but he's instantly intimidated by a stock gangster (Harold J. Stone, not hardly scary enough in the role) to not tell the police what he's seen. There's no suspense at all, just Duryea as a supreme wimp constantly bullied by Stone and the bad guys.

Barbara Billingsley as his wife and two sweet kids completes the fake 1950s family unit of so many shows like BB's "Leave It to Beaver". Eventually Duryea has had enough and moments later all is well -completely phony wrap-up to the story. Duryea's performance as a weakling is not up to his usual standard.