User Reviews

A man and wife enter an art gallery at closing time. He bought her a painting for their 1st wedding anniversary and wants to pick it up. It takes a bit for the guy to fetch it, and when the wife finally sees it she is shocked. The husband objects that this isn't what he bought. Is this a joke?

What I like is that we don't actually see the painting until well into the next scene (alas, at the end of a dose of forced exposition).

Anyway, the painting is of the man's first wife, who disappeared a couple years ago. The painting appears to have been painted more recently than that. I think the episode develops a good bit of tension, and our recently wed pair starts to feel the stress.

I didn't see the ending coming. Pretty decent stuff, although I doubt it's fully plausible.

Average Hitch, which happily means engaging suspense, good acting, and surprise ending. No doubt that's why the series is still re-run even 60-years later. So, where is Jocelyn. She's been missing for a long time. But now, suddenly, a recent portrait shows up to discombobulate ex-husband Mark (Abbott) and trusting new wife Debbie (Gates). Jocelyn's disappearance has long haunted Mark, but now it's grabbed Debbie too. And what about the new bust of Jocelyn's rather evil face; it's a spooky exact replica. Good thing Mark finds out who the artist (Baragrey) is. Trouble is the guy lives in same beachfront house where Mark and Jocelyn lived many years ago. Does the afflicted husband really want to go there. Things, it seems, just keep getting weirder.

Mark and Debbie make an appealing couple so it's easy to root for them. This Jocelyn thing is like a curse that's suddenly descended upon the happy couple. Frankly, I detect echoes of Preminger's classic Laura (1944) in the screenplay, especially with the mysterious portrait. Baragrey, for one, is well cast, his angular frame and dark visage adding just the proper menace. Anyway, it's solid Hitch from that wonderfully establishing first year.

This is the old plot where a group of men become enamored with a woman whose beauty drives them nuts. It begins when an artist paints a portrait and totally upsets the marital apple cart of a seemingly loving husband and his wife. Through a series of obsessional movements by a couple characters, we are led to their confronting their passions, but not before a great deal of angst and madness have been expended. The acting is over the top, and so little is revealed to us that it doesn't quite work. Still, it has its archetypal being and draws on the past to tell a story: Part Dorian Gray and part "Portrait of Jenny." There's just something lacking about the presentation. Maybe it's actually a little short on suspense and long on emotion.

This is a fantastic episode! It comes off as almost a horror film does with very creepy imagiry. This one will keep you guessing until the end for sure.

While there is not much original about the premise, it nonetheless sounded very interesting on a atmosphere and psychological front. It was great to see 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' most prolific director Robert Stevens back, while not caring for every episode of his most of his previous outings were good to excellent. Quite a decent cast too. So a lot of potential for "Portrait of Jocelyn" and a large part of me had a strong feeling it would be at least decent.

At least decent "Portrait of Jocelyn" indeed was. Would go as far to say that it is an excellent episode and among Stevens' best early entries. Also in the better half of Season 1, which had its missteps but was mostly solid (sorry if that has been repeated too much in previous reviews). "Portrait of Jocelyn" really does make the most of the premise and manages to not be over-predictable, it also does live up to its beautiful and unsettling-sounding title.

Maybe it has a few too many convenient coincidences later on.

"Portrait of Jocelyn" otherwise has an absorbing story that may not be original, but to me it did have creepiness and suspense. And in a way that is reminiscent of Hitchcock at his best, 'Psycho' and 'Vertigo' have been cited. The ending is a complete surprise and at least rings true (not always the case with the series) and the characters are not psychologically simplistic. The hold the portrait has over Mark mentally does unsettle.

The writing is taut without being wordy and intelligent, while the direction ensures that the atmosphere doesn't slip while also letting the story breathe yet not losing the momentum or coherence. It doesn't feel padded or confusing. It's a good looking episode, especially the atmospheric photography in the early stages.

Have no issues with the acting either, while Phillip Abbott carries the story very nicely and makes it easy to root for him and Nancy Gates allures John Baragrey stands out. Hitchcock's bookending is typically ironic and the main theme has lost none of its memorability.

In conclusion, excellent. 9/10.

Mark is on his second marriage. As far as his first wife goes, she reportedly ran off years ago and Mark divorced her due to desertion. But now when Mark and his new wife go to pick up a painting they bought, a different one has been substituted....and the portrait they picked up turned out to be of Jocelyn, the first wife! This leads to a strange and complicated journey...and is the best episode of season 1 I've seen so far.

Mark is played by Philip Abbott, the man who was a regular on "The FBI", as he played Inspector Erskine's boss. As for the wife and brother-in-law (Nancy Gates and Raymond Baily), they'd both been on previous episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" this same season.

The episode is exquisitely written and exciting. But if I say any more about it, it would ruin it...just see it and be impressed.