When James St. George Bernard Bowlby is promoted to the top position at the Grand Oriental Bank in Peking, his wife, recently recovered from a series of illnesses, leaves England and joins him in China, moving into a large house by the bank and purchasing "The Buick Saloon," a large car recently redone and painted blue. She begins to make the rounds, paying calls on the wives of important men in the city. Soon, she begins to hear a woman's voice, speaking in French, making small remarks whenever Mrs. Bowlby is being driven in her car.
The woman's voice speaks to a man named Jacques and Mrs. Bowlby wonders about the identity of the woman and the man, gradually realizing that they had been having a love affair that found them at many of the same places Mrs. Bowlby visits. Her husband does not hear the voice when he joins her in the car and she begins to enjoy listening to the haunting, one-sided conversation of the mysterious woman.
Jessica Tandy as Mrs. Bowlby |
Murray Matheson as Bowlby |
Returning to Peking in the autumn and resuming her round of social calls, Mrs. Bowlby hears the Countess sobbing and suddenly decides to return to the hidden garden. Feeling sad at her own solitude and sorry to have involved herself in the misery of a woman she never met, she is startled to see an inscription carved in plaster. The initials of the lovers are clear and she realizes that the Jacques of the pair is none other than her own husband.
"The Buick Saloon" was first published here |
Mary O'Malley (1889-1974) was born Mary Ann Dolling Sanders in England. She married a British diplomat named Owen St. Clair O'Malley, and her marriage was described as unhappy. She moved to Bridge End in 1919 and, in 1925, she and her children went with her husband to Peking for two years, where he had a diplomatic posting. (One wonders if the main character in "The Buick Saloon" may have some autobiographical elements.) She began writing after returning to England in 1927 and, though "The Buick Saloon" was first published under her real name, she soon began to use the pseudonym Ann Bridge: Bridge, after the town of Bridge End, and Ann, her middle name. She went on to write many books, including 14 novels, as well as short stories and autobiographical works.
Barry Bernard as the bartender |
Stirling Silliphant wrote the teleplay and took pains to make the character of Mrs. Bowlby, who is given the first name of Laura, someone who has a history of being sensitive to supernatural forces. In the first scene, which is not found in the short story, we see her on a cruise ship bound for Hong Kong (which has replaced the Peking of the story), using a Ouija board with a group of passengers gathered around, watching. A theremin is heard on the soundtrack, making the proceedings seem weird and spooky and, as Laura uses the Ouija board, a nearby bartender and steward converse about her, allowing the viewer to learn her name and the purpose of her voyage. The Asian man whose hands join hers on the Ouija board's planchette tells her that she is "'possessed of the most extraordinary powers,'" a statement that appears to make her uncomfortable.
Barry Harvey as the steward |
As she is first being driven around Hong Kong, director Robert Stevens inserts a close up of her calling card so that we see her unusually long name with the initial letters of each word capitalized; this sets up the final scene, where she sees the inscription in the garden. There is some dated, racist interaction with Chang, her chauffeur, who calls her Missy and has a limited understanding of the English language, but such portrayals of Asians were common on American television even into the late 1970s, on shows like Barney Miller.
Leonard Strong at the Ouija board |
Gavin Muir as Thompson |
At a party, a man tells Laura the name of the woman whose husband had been the previous owner of the car, as well as the fact that she left the country and that her husband was not named Jacques. Back in the car, Laura hears the voice again and is surrounded by a sort of mist that dulls our view of the sights outside the vehicle. For the first time, she speaks to the voice, questioning it. The teleplay is more straightforward than the short story and compresses the time of the events, omitting the summer months that Laura spends at the seashore. There is only one visit to the garden and she quickly finds the inscription with her husband's initials.
The episode as a whole features none of director Robert Stevens's usual camera trickery, save for a shot looking through an ornate door in the garden. The garden itself is beautiful and Laura is enchanted by it until she sees the inscription. To help make the point clear to the viewer, Laura holds her calling card next to the initials carved in plaster so that we see the connection. Both the short story and the TV show depend on the fact that her husband's name is long and unusual; if his name were John Smith, she would not likely assume that the initials "J.S." in the garden were suspicious!
Patrick Westwood as Nixon, the car salesman |
Laura's unfaithful husband, James, is played by Murray Matheson (1912-1985). Born in Australia, he had a long career on screen from 1945 to 1983. He was seen on Thriller, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and The Night Stalker, and he appeared in four episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "Murder Case."
Weaver Levy as Chang |
The car salesman, Nixon, is played by Patrick Westwood (1924-2017), whose career on screen spanned the years from 1948 to 2003. He was in one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Avengers, and Space: 1999.
In other roles:
- Weaver Levy (1925-2018) as Chang, the chauffeur; he was on screen from 1945 to 1981 and also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Poison."
- Barry Harvey as the steward in the first scene; he had a short TV career from 1955 to 1961 but managed to appear in eight episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole."
- Barry Bernard (1899-1978) as the bartender in the first scene; on screen from 1919 to 1972, he appeared in Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent, as well as on The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and Night Gallery. He was also in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "The Hero."
- Leonard Strong (1908-1980) as the man at the Ouija board with Laura; he often played Asian roles and was on screen from 1942 to 1968. He was on one other episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and also was seen on The Twilight Zone and Get Smart.
- Owen Cunningham (1902-1983) as Adams, the man at the party who tells Laura about the Countess; he was on screen from 1957 to 1978 and was seen on Night Gallery and the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Dip in the Pool."
Owen Cunningham |
- Tetsu Komai (1894-1970) as the old man who tells Laura that the Countess's house is no longer occupied; he was on screen from 1925 to 1964 and he and his family were interred in a camp in Arizona for three years during World War Two with other Japanese-Americans. He also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, "Specialty of the House."
Tetsu Komai |
Read "The Buick Saloon" at the Internet Archive, here. Buy the DVD of "The Canary Sedan" here or watch the episode for free online here. Read the GenreSnaps take on this episode here.
"The Canary Sedan" was remade in color for the 1980s' series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the story was greatly altered. This time, the main character is American and the Asian stereotypes present in the 1958 version have been eliminated. Ann Foley (rather than Laura Bowlby) learns early on that her husband was unfaithful and, rather than a disembodied, French-accented voice in the car, the other woman is Chinese and appears in person sitting next to the startled wife. It seems the woman is now dead and Mrs. Foley must perform a ritual to free her spirit and allow her husband to reconcile with her. The episode is available to watch online here and was originally broadcast on March 2, 1986.
"The Canary Sedan" was remade in color for the 1980s' series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the story was greatly altered. This time, the main character is American and the Asian stereotypes present in the 1958 version have been eliminated. Ann Foley (rather than Laura Bowlby) learns early on that her husband was unfaithful and, rather than a disembodied, French-accented voice in the car, the other woman is Chinese and appears in person sitting next to the startled wife. It seems the woman is now dead and Mrs. Foley must perform a ritual to free her spirit and allow her husband to reconcile with her. The episode is available to watch online here and was originally broadcast on March 2, 1986.
Sources:
Bridge, Ann. “The Buick Saloon.” Creepy Stories, Bracken Books, 1994, pp. 544–559.
“The Canary Sedan.” Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 3, episode 37, CBS, 15 June 1958.
The FictionMags Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.
Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.
IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/.
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org/.
In two weeks: "Little White Frock," starring Herbert Marshall and Julie Adams!
Listen to Al Sjoerdsma's terrific podcast about the first-season episode, "The Derelicts," here!
Listen to Al Sjoerdsma's terrific podcast about the first-season episode, "The Derelicts," here!
2 comments:
Strange Episode Of An Unfaithful Husband And A Wife Yearning For Passion! Supernatural Is A Little Far Fetched!!!
It's supernatural because she hears the other woman's voice.
Post a Comment