Identifying late 60s/early 70s TV Show
April 5, 2005 1:07 PM Subscribe
A friend of mine has requested me to track down a television show she has a dim memory of seeing as a child. She thought it might be a Night Gallery episode, but the ep guides that I've looked at haven't yielded anything that sounds promising.
In her words: "it is about the woman (I think-it was a long time ago and I was a little kid) who gets away with (killing someone?) because on the witness stand they hypnotize her and she reverts to a former life where she speaks French. So the defense argues that she isn’t herself but some incarnation of a past-life, French-speaking murderer. And then at the end she says, 'Thank you my French tutor.'"
My Google-fu has failed me, and I need to do actual work soon. Can anyone help, so I can salvage my reputation as a research goddess?
In her words: "it is about the woman (I think-it was a long time ago and I was a little kid) who gets away with (killing someone?) because on the witness stand they hypnotize her and she reverts to a former life where she speaks French. So the defense argues that she isn’t herself but some incarnation of a past-life, French-speaking murderer. And then at the end she says, 'Thank you my French tutor.'"
My Google-fu has failed me, and I need to do actual work soon. Can anyone help, so I can salvage my reputation as a research goddess?
Google yielded a few results, which led to this Amazon.com page for a DVD of Rod's Sterling "Night Gallery". I also found this page on IMDB for the pilot, and this page with the rest of the seasons. Maybe that's what you're looking for.
posted by TNLNYC at 2:48 PM on April 5, 2005
posted by TNLNYC at 2:48 PM on April 5, 2005
Response by poster: routergirl: thanks for your help. She thinks it was a television show, and it does seem like some sort of Hitchcock or Sterling-esque serial twist. Some of our colleagues said it sounded like Night Gallery, but I can't find any episode guides that sound like what she describes. As for the age, I imagine she saw it around 25 years ago, or so, but who knows how old the show itself was.
posted by bibliowench at 2:54 PM on April 5, 2005
posted by bibliowench at 2:54 PM on April 5, 2005
Best answer: It sounds remarkably like an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" called Murder Me Twice, but that was from 1958. Maybe your friend saw that on a rerun, because the story is really astonishingly similar.
posted by cerebus19 at 3:07 PM on April 5, 2005
posted by cerebus19 at 3:07 PM on April 5, 2005
Response by poster: Good timing. I was just about to report that I'd answered my own question: she was thinking about a 1985 remake of that episode with (heh) Buck Henry and Barbara Hershey. It only recently dawned on me that the plot wasn't macabre enough for "Night Gallery" purposes, and that I should try Hitchcock's show instead. Lessons leaned this reference go-round include always re-evaluate your search strategy, realize that everything trivial is on the web, and never underestimate how much older you are than your co-workers.
posted by bibliowench at 3:13 PM on April 5, 2005
posted by bibliowench at 3:13 PM on April 5, 2005
Incidently, a fair number of the Night Gallery plots weren't very macabre at all, unless sticking Caesar Romero as Count Dracula trying to get a loan from a bloodbank strikes you as particularly macabre.
Many were, however.
posted by codger at 10:48 PM on April 5, 2005
Many were, however.
posted by codger at 10:48 PM on April 5, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
Trying but failing (so far) to use my own google-fu.
posted by routergirl at 1:42 PM on April 5, 2005