ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: HUMAN INTEREST STORY (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock.
In this drama, newspaper reporter Bill Everett is instructed by his editor Frank Cargan to check out a "gag story" about a man claiming to be a martian. He heads across the street to their regular bar, where friendly bartender Barney Welch points out the "alien," a normal-looking man who explains that he arrived on Earth two hours ago and can't explain why or how he got there. He tells Bill that he has somehow retained the knowledge and memories of Howard Wilcox, the man whose body he's inhabiting, and escaped from some sort of prison on Mars after realizing that everyone else, including his captor, had vanished. Howard adds that a disease known as "krill" has been killing off the martian population for some time, though it couldn't have been what caused the thousands of deaths that he witnessed before abruptly traveling to Earth.
Bill manages to convince Howard to head home to "his" wife and introduces himself to Elsie Wilcox as a "salesman." Though Elsie notices nothing amiss, Howard resolves to tell her the truth and risk the chance that she will consider him simply insane. Bill requests a private chat with him first, and the two wander off to a nearby bar. Later, Bill returns to Frank's office and confirms that Howard was indeed a martian who erroneously believed that "we" were all dead, and had been placed in an institution on his home planet after suffering a mental breakdown. He matter-of-factly adds that he was forced to kill Howard to keep the secret, and will lay low to avoid Elsie and any other curious humans "until we take over." Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:29:09
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:33415
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Reporters and reporting; Space aliens
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1955-1960; 1962-1964 / NBC - 1960-1962; 1964-1965
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Bufferin painkillers
- TV - Commercials - Ipana toothpaste
- TV - Commercials - Sal Hepatica laxative
CREDITS
- Joan Harrison … Producer
- Norman Lloyd … Associate Producer, Director
- Fredric Brown … Writer
- Alfred Hitchcock … Host
- Steve McQueen … Cast, Bill Everett
- Arthur Hill … Cast, Howard Wilcox
- Tyler McVey … Cast, Frank Cargan
- William Challee … Cast, Barney Welch
- Anne Anderson … Cast, Elsie Wilcox