House Guest Review

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

The 1962 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, “House Guest,” begins with an apparent good deed and spirals into high tension and dark drama.

Young Tony Mitchell, played by Billy Mumy, is swimming in the ocean observed by his mother, Sally, played by Peggy McCay. Tony disobeys her order to stay close to shore and finds himself in serious trouble. He is saved by a mysterious stranger, Ray Roscoe, played by Robert Sterling.

In gratitude, Tony’s father John Mitchell, played by MacDonald Carey, and his mother invite Ray to stay on until he can find a place of his own. They run a boys’ school and are fairly well off. To their dismay, Ray soon causes various kinds of trouble, growing more and more unwelcome as they debate how to get rid of him. Only Tony unreservedly loves his “Uncle Ray.”

The action continues with a series of increasingly alarming events drawing to a suspenseful conclusion.

This episode must have been challenging and perhaps even frightening for Billy. The scenes where he is floundering and going under the water could possibly have been filmed in a big tank with a wave machine, but some of the scenes are unquestionably in the ocean and Billy did his own stunts here. Billy turns in a fine acting performance as usual.