AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE: CONCEALED ENEMIES, PART 4: VERDICT (TV)
Summary
Continued from T88:0240. One in this dramatic anthology series. The fourth and final part of this docudrama that deals with the actual events of the Alger Hiss spy case and examines the role played by Whittaker Chambers, the man whose accusations brought Hiss down. Set in the Cold War era, this drama also provides an incisive portrait of the times that produced the House Committee on Un-American Activities and vaulted the young Richard Nixon to national attention. After scenes from the previous episodes are shown, this part opens as a new trial date is set. Rosenwald worries that the worsening relationship with Russia, who now has the A-bomb, will further handicap Hiss. He once more presses for psychological evidence regarding Chambers's homosexual tendencies to be used as part of the defense, but Hiss again refuses. Despite Hiss's denial of wrongdoing and his insistence that he is the victim of Chambers's malice, in the face of the seemingly incriminating evidence, the prosecution wins an easy conviction. Hiss is found guilty on two counts of perjury. In a brief statement prior to his sentencing, Hiss expresses the hope that the future will yield the truth and he will be exonerated. Hiss is sentenced to five years in prison.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: May 9, 1984 Wednesday 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:10
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T88:0241
- GENRE: Docudrama; Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Communism - Drama; Drama; Drama, historical; Espionage, Communism; U S House Committee on Un-American Activities
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1982-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David Elstein … Executive Producer
- Lindsay Law … Executive Producer
- Peter B. Cook … Producer
- Penelope Pigott … Associate Producer
- Jeff Bleckner … Director
- Hugh Whitemore … Writer
- Jonathan Tunick … Music by
- Herrmann, Edward (See also: Herrmann, Ed) … Cast, Alger Hiss
- John Harkins … Cast, Whittaker Chambers
- Peter Riegert … Cast, Richard Nixon
- Michael Tucker … Cast, Harold Rosenwald
- Charles Kimbrough … Cast, Edward McLean
- Saul Rubinek … Cast, Harold Shapero
- Frederick Coffin … Cast, Thomas Murphy
- Bob Owczarek … Cast, Walter H. Anderson
- Richard Dysart … Cast, Lloyd Paul Stryker
- Richard Grusin … Cast, Theo Becker
- Sam Gray … Cast, Judge Samuel Kaufman
- Ed Van Nuys … Cast, Ramos Feehan
- Frank Maraden … Cast, Julian Wadleigh
- Will Lyman … Cast, Gabriel Javsicas
- Alexandra Bleckner … Cast, Girl on Piano
- Theresa Merritt … Cast, Clytie Catlett
- Paul Bates … Cast, Mike Catlett
- William E. Kennedy … Cast, Pat Catlett
- Walter Covell … Cast, Court Clerk
- Charles W. Wolf … Cast, Caretaker
- Maria Tucci … Cast, Priscilla Hiss
- Leonard Zola … Cast, Jury Foreman
- Peter C. Kovner … Cast, Journalist
- Scott Richards … Cast, Journalist
- Marcia Jean Kurtz … Cast, Esther Chambers
- Earl Hindman … Cast, Lombardo, FBI
- Christopher Childs … Cast, Burdick, FBI
- David Ellsworth … Cast, Juror
- Remark Ramsay … Cast, Dr. Carl Binger
- Raymond Serra … Cast, J. Edgar Hoover
- Eric Swanson … Cast, Timothy
- Jonathan Baltzer … Cast, Ralph
- Mary Alice … Cast, Edith Murray
- Robert Milli … Cast, Claude Cross
- Henderson Forsythe … Cast, John Foster Dulles
- Richard Hamilton … Cast, Club Member
- Hansford Rowe … Cast, Judge Henry Goddard
- Marcia Jean Kurtz … Cast, Esther Chambers
- Louis Farrah … Cast, Press Room Reporter
- David Thomas … Cast, Court Clerk
- June Lion … Cast, Jury Foreman