Four Star Playhouse 1.09

The Man on the Train

starring David Niven

directed by Robert Florey

William Langford (David Niven) takes the train to see family. He shares a compartment on the train with John Dwerrihouse, who tells him about a business deal that he is about to close for the railroad company. Langford mentions the encounter to a few friends when gets to where he is going. Everyone is astounded to hear about the encounter because Dwerrihouse disappeared months ago with a large sum of money.

Langford insists that he met Dwerrihouse on the train. Jeff Pender, a friend of Langford's looks into the matter with Langford but no one who is on the train recalls seeing Dwerrihouse. They take the matter to Sir Charles, whose secretary, a man names Raikes, Langford insists he saw meeting with Dwerrihouse after he disembarked from the train in Blackpool. Raikes denies he was there and he has witnesses to prove that there's no way it could have been him.

Suspicion starts to fall on Langford, because he persists in telling his story of the meeting on the train. The suspicion is that he had something to do with Dwerrihouse's theft of the money. Langford finally takes matters into his own hands and solves the mystery.

Thoughts

There's a supernatural twist to the end of this episode. It didn't really surprise me because I couldn't foresee any other likely resolution to the mystery. This story was good, better than most episodes of Four Star Playhouse up to this point that I have seen. I don't love it but it kept my attention. I think a lot of that has to do with the commitment that all the actors involved in this episode made to treating it seriously.

Notes

This episode was based on a story by Amelia B. Edwards, a 19th century writer of fiction and non-fiction but I'm not sure which one. 

This is the second of 32 episodes of this show in which David Niven appeared. The previous episode in which he appeared was 1.06 The Island.

Alan Napier played the part of John Dwerrihouse. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. I know him best as Alfred in the Batman (1966) television program. He appeared in six episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), the first of which was 1.05 Into Thin Air. He also appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Lowell Gilmore played the part of Jeff Pender. This is the first of two episodes of this show in which he appeared. He also appeared in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), 1.20 And So Died Riabouchinska.

Rhys Williams played the part of Raikes. This is the second of six episodes of this show in which he appeared. The first was 1.04 Backstage. He also appeared in one episode of The Invaders.

Walter Kingsford played the part of Sir Charles. This is the first of four episodes of this show in which he appeared. He also appeared in five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I've also seen him in The Velvet Touch (1948).