User Reviews

A well to do young family in Los Angeles has just hired a nanny for their baby. It seems that this woman, Frieda, was the husband's nanny when he was a child and so he agrees to hire her on the spot.

At the same time, there's a story in the newspaper about a German nanny who poisoned an infant in San Francisco. And, over time, the wife comes to think that their new nanny might just be this killer. Is she jumping to conclusions or is their sweet new nanny a homicidal maniac?

This is a very exciting story, though like some other hour long episodes, it's one that probably would have worked better as a half hour one. In other words, the story seems a bit padded and slow paced in spots. However, it does have a nice twist and is well worth seeing.

Okay entry, but nothing special. Upscale young couple (Slate & Hays) hires a nanny (Skala) to take care of their infant son, so they can travel more. Skala's got to be reliable since she was Slate's German nanny when he was a baby. But, is she still trustworthy. Hays gets concerned when a toddler is poisoned in San Francisco by a nanny turned fugitive. Then, when a suspicious Hays quizzes Skala about her previous employer, she lies. At the same time, Hays' child is suddenly undergoing mysterious illnesses. So what's Hays to do—she can't fire her husband's childhood nanny, plus hubby thinks the wife's just overreacting. But, is she.

The entry builds good tight suspense in driving toward the climax. But then the climax is dragged out with too much talk that I'm afraid amounts to padding—always a pitfall for an hour-long weekly series like Hitch. Thus, impact of the ace build-up is spread out and weakened.

As usual, the performances are A-grade, but it's really Hays who gets the screen time. Slate (a Steve McQueen look-a-like) mainly fills out story requirements as the affable husband, while Skala and Deering get to show their chops. Anyway, a tighter climax could have lifted the episode to first-rank. As things are, it's still a fairly engrossing 60-minutes.

Past reviewers do not seem to like this episode, but I enjoyed it for the acting, and with two distinguished actresses. Lilia Skala, who had been recently nominated for an Oscar for her role as Mother Superior in LILLIES OF THE FIELD, is spot on as the suspicious nanny (named Frieda) for a baby, belonging to the father she used to take care of years ago.

What could go wrong? That's the Hitchcock question... and as a story surfaces about a homicidal nanny, fitting her description, who poisoned another baby. OMG. Actually, this is a time worn story, re-hashed in both movies and tv shows for decades, but it's still worth a look.

And if Hitch liked it, it can't be all that bad.

Skala is very good in this type of role, and is the whole show as you really begin to wonder about her. Without giving too much away, there are two sides to a story. Alas, there are some other interesting characters who pass through the old homestead. Applause for popular actress Oliver Deering, as Christine, the prim and proper guest.

Deering was a favorite of Cecil B. DeMille, appearing in two of his classic films, including the TEN COMMANDMENTS. Deering was the sister of dramatic actor Alfred Ryder.

Also look for veteran actress Doris Lloyd as the maid, whose career dated back to silent films. The face you know, but don't recall her name. Frances Reid plays the snooty grandmother, who actually became a staple in daytime soap operas.

To note, Lilia Skala began her career as a distinguished architect, fleeing Nazi Germany and eventually becoming a stage actress. Her Oscar nomination lead to many other prime movie roles for many years. Soon after this episode came THE NANNY, starring legendary Bette Davis. Pick your poison!

SEASON 3 EPISODE 16 CBS dvd box set.

The story is well rehashed in the other reviews, so I'll add that many of them are accurate in describing the actions of the young wife/mother--who looks a lot like a young Diana Rigg, but isn't-- and her husband's old nurse; I found their chemistry to be uncomfortable. Even before strange things start to happen, the wife has a tendency to go from polite to snippy and back again. (And for a brand-new mother, she doesn't seem to have a second thought about hopping over to Europe for a few months, leaving the infant with someone she never met. But that's just me.) As the story goes on, the psycho is revealed and the young wife snaps into imperiled-leading-lady mode. Hitchcock's commercial bits are the best part.

"One of the Family" is a potentially terrifying episode, not recommended for first time parents. A young Los Angeles couple, Dexter Dailey (Jeremy Slate) and wife Joyce (Kathryn Hays), hire Dexter's old nursemaid Frieda (Lilia Skala) to help care for their newborn son. The strangely edgy Frieda offers no references to Joyce, and gives her a phony name for a previous employer. Hearing about a German nurse who was suspected of killing an infant in San Francisco by lacing the bottle with poison, Joyce decides to contact the grieving parents to inquire about the now missing nanny. She instead receives a surprise visit from the dead baby's aunt (Olive Deering), who shows Joyce a photo of the child with the nurse, indeed revealed to be Frieda, whose recent arrival coincided with an unexpected bout of stomach trouble for the Dailey baby. Best remembered for her delicate mime in the STAR TREK episode "The Empath," Kathryn Hays is most affecting as the worried young mother, with brief appearances by Willis Bouchey as the child's doctor, and Doris Lloyd as the San Francisco housemaid who first answers Joyce's call.

The true destroyer in this episode involves the actions of the central figures. The young mother is absolutely ridiculous in her handling of the situation in which she finds herself. A woman who is known by the father comes to be a babysitter while the couple is to go on a vacation. But all over the news is stuff about an arsenic murderer. As the baby sitter continues to act in her own nutty way, the mother becomes suspicious. Of course, when another woman shows up and labels the original one, we think things are settled--but we Hitchcock viewers know better--right. The final scene is so nutso. That woman had opportunities to head out the door until things got sorted out. The baby would have been safe. But the story is so full of holes and sheer idiocy, it doesn't happen.