The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series) Run for Doom (1963) User Reviews

Femme fatale fabulous!

[melvelvit-1 · 8/10 · 30 May 2008]

Nikki Carroll (Diana Dors), a promiscuous nightclub chanteuse with the Bill Floyd Trio (Scott Brady), takes up with timid doctor Donald Reed (John Gavin) but death (natural, accidental, and homicidal) dogs the lovers...

Voluptuous 50s sex bomb Diana Dors, with her cotton-candy cascade of platinum blonde hair, dangling earrings, skin-tight evening gowns, and fur coats, makes an alluring siren who gets belted around, sings a couple of torch songs, and causes no end of trouble for the men in her life before getting what's been coming to her in this TV-Noir adapted from a Henry Kane novel. Gavin's wealthy father puts detectives on Dors' trail and finds out three of her previous husbands have met bad ends but has a fatal heart attack when his son tells him he still wants to marry her. On their honeymoon, Gavin accidentally kills a man over his wife's affections and they cover it up -but just when you think Diana can't be any more dangerous, her "boomerang baby" Brady (a pianist in crazy-cool shades) goes berserk and there's a surprising double twist at the end. Look quickly for a young Tom Skerrit as an intern in the hospital where Gavin works.

"Run for Doom" is fun for a while

[chuckreilly · 7/10 · 28 September 2016]

John Gavin plays a young and very naïve doctor who is manipulated to the nth degree by a beautiful blonde nightclub singer (Diana Dors in her prime). She's called the "boomerang girl" by her piano playing quasi-manager played by Scott Brady. That's because she goes through husbands like a steak knife through butter and always returns to her old job, usually richer. Gavin is warned repeatedly by his father not to get involved with this gold-digger, but no sooner than you can say "I want a gigantic diamond ring" he's popping her the big question. Sure enough, on the couple's ocean cruise honeymoon, Diana is already playing around with other men and get's caught in the act with one fellow. Then her soon-to-be ex-husband Gavin does a really stupid thing. He tosses the poor guy overboard. Now Diana has him right where she wants him. She threatens to turn him into the police unless he agrees to an outrageous alimony settlement. The young doctor is forced to part with everything, including most of his late father's money (the old man passed away earlier from a heart attack when he found out his dumber-than-dirt son was engaged). But Diana is hardly home free with the cash. When she returns to Mr. Brady, she informs him that she now has more than enough money and has decided to permanently part ways with him. This does not sit well with him and he decides to take remedial action. There's a nice twist ending to this sordid tale of greed. You might say everybody ends up getting exactly what they deserve.

John Gavin was usually typecast as a stoic kind of guy which limited his career choices. His performance as Julius Caesar in Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" is a prime example. But here he's able to stretch his acting skills a bit and plays someone who runs through the full gamut of emotions. British actress Diana Dors was perfect for her part as the scheming hussy. Ms. Dors never became the huge star some predicted she would be. Nonetheless, she was quite successful on a more modest level. Scott Brady had a long career in both films and TV. He could play both good guys and heavies equally well. If you look closely in this episode, you'll see a very young Tom Skerritt as one of Gavin's intern buddies at the hospital. It's a small speaking part and Skerritt makes the most of it. The prolific Bernard Girard handled the directorial duties.

A woman with a heart of stone....and more lives than an alley cat!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 12 May 2021]

"Run for Doom" is an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" that stars the British sex symbol, Diana Dors. I was actually surprised to watch her, as her usual English accent was well hidden...showing she could act well in American shows.

John Gavin plays Dr. Reed, a new doctor fresh out of medical school. Unfortunately for him, he's fallen for a lounge singer (Dors)...a woman with a VERY checkered past...though Reed is simply too dumb to accept the truth when his father lets him know about her three previous marriages. It seems she bled all three dry and then skipped out on the marriage...and somehow Reed thinks it'll all be different this time!

This is a very weird episode to read about in the reviews. Several score it 2 or 3--saying it was terrible. Conversely, several gave it a 10!! I think both extremes are ridiculous. The acting is quite good, so 2 or 3 seems silly. And, I have noticed some folks give 10s to every episode of some shows....and I wonder if perhaps this might be the case here as well. All I know is that it wasn't perfect and it wasn't bad....though I do think the ending was not great, as it certainly probably would NOT be enough to convict the doctor of anything. See the show...see what I mean.

Two Great Performances Worth Watching

[jayraskin1 · 10/10 · 23 October 2008]

Diana Dors is terrific, absolutely sexy and a fine actress. She is a great Hitchcock femme fatale. It is surprising he never starred her in a film. John Gavin is great too. Considering how stiff he was in Spartacus and Psycho, this role is a revelation. Sometime between 1960 and 1962 when this was made, he must have learned to act. He actually seems relaxed and there's real chemistry between him and Dors. It is too bad Sean Connery came back to play James Bond instead of giving Gaven a chance. He might have been great. The story of a doomed love affair isn't much, but it does have a nice ironic and unexpected ending.

A Dors Showcase

[dougdoepke · 3 April 2015]

A respectable doctor falls for a man-eating torch singer. Complications follow.

Half the attraction of this 60-minutes is waiting to see the trollopy Nickie (Dors) get what she deserves after treating men like scuffed shoe dirt. But then she never lacks for more victims given that sensational gowned figure. Actually, the episode amounts to a Dors showcase since the camera seldom leaves her. And surprise, surprise, I guess that's her real singing voice (IMDB), which is pretty good for a glamour girl. On the other hand, Gavin looks appropriately respectable as a fall guy doctor, while burly Scott Brady dons sunglasses as a cool cat band player. And catch that barely disguised innuendo while the doc's courting Nickie. There's enough load there to give 60's-style censors all night fits. No, it's not front-rank Hitchcock, with more Dors than plot; plus an ending that's a stretch, as others point out. Nonetheless, the scariest thing may be imagining what it was like for Dors growing up with her real name, which sure ain't "Dors" (IMDB).

****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 1 June 2016]

Lounge singer Diana Dors did a miserable job of opening the episode by singing Just One of Those Things. While the song was appropriate to the plot, Dors should have tried to emulate Peggy Lee's rendition of this classic tune.

As the doctor enamored by Dors and who eventually marries her against the wishes of his soon dead-to-be father, Carl Benton Reid, future US Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin does well as a guy who tries to be cool but just cannot.

The marriage is doomed from the start when Gavin finds Dors with another man on board their honeymoon ship and in a fight, throws him overboard.

From this point on, Dors shows herself to be a gold-digger and the ending when her boss at the lounge comes to see her as she plans to leave for California is Hitcock's irony at its best.

"Dishing out cheap thrills again tonight, Honey?"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 4 October 2022]

Watching this program, it occurred to me that with the right breaks, Diana Dors could have been Marilyn Monroe instead of Norma Jean Baker. I've seen Scott Brady in more than a handful of his old TV Western episodes of 'Shotgun Slade', so it was comical to see him here try to come across as a ladies' man with Dors' character, Nickie Carroll. He did the same as Slade, but he was slimmer then without the shades. You really have to wonder what Doc Reed (John Gavin) was thinking to take up with torch singer Carroll. Of course, you know what he was thinking, just not long term. Can you imagine - he gave her a wedding ring less than twenty-four hours after he met her, talk about a giant leap of faith!

A number of imponderables crop up in the latter part of the picture. For one thing, how did the police respond to the altercation at Doctor Reed's home between Bill Floyd (Brady) and Nickie? How could they have found out? You think Floyd turned himself in? That would be the only possibility given the way he was carrying on when Reed arrived. And then, on top of that, the police allow Reed to enter the crime scene unsupervised while they escort Floyd out the door!

In any event, Floyd's 'boomerang baby' turned out to be his undoing, as well as Reed's, since the good doctor never considered that the call to his hospital was just a tad exaggerated. I bet he could have strangled the detective who told the staff that the wife was dead. But that would have made three murders by Reed, a bit much even for Hitchcock.

P. S. Try looking for Tom Skerritt in this story, he's just as unrecognizable as Dabney Coleman was in the prior episode, 'Dear Uncle George'.

LOVELY TO LOOK AT --- DO NOT TOUCH!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 31 March 2024]

Alfred Hitchcock hired fellow British actress Diana Dors for this classic. Diana was quite the star in England, especially on stage, and some say was the British Marilyn Monroe. Hitch also cast her in his previous half hour show. I'm sure they had a lot of stories to share over a cup of tea.

10 Stars.

If you're a movie buff --at first -- this may remind you of the famous soap opera, NORA PRENTISS (1947) that starred Ann Sheriden as the sexy nightclub singer linked to kindly doctor Kent Smith. Remember? That said.. Hitch turned it up a notch... Diana plays the sultry singer who catches the eye of doc John Gavin. The difference here is old acquaintance Bill Floyd, well played by Scott Brady.

Floyd warns the doc to just stay away because all the men in her life had a "few" problems. Wait and see.

Super story by James Bridges, another favorite writer of Hitch, who later wrote the PAPER CHASE.

Movie vets Gavin and Brady are great to watch, but the cam is squarely on Diana Dors --and what she's up to.

In real life, Dors was a media sensation, much like celebs gone viral today, owning a Rolls Royce at the age of 20 and always having a mansion with a pool, for obvious reasons. She is missed, her career cut short to cancer and her husband, unable to get over the loss, taking his own life.

Enjoy this salute to Diana Dors. She is missed.

SEASON 1 EPISODE 31 remastered/Universal.

Formula Presentatiion

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 17 May 2023]

This is probably typical of half the Hitchcock TV dramas. We have the woman who has the reputation for offing her husbands and taking their money. Diana Dors is the one here. I remember my fellow classmates getting all hot and bothered over her, along with Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, and the other peroxide portrayers. The doctor here is really stupid. Perhaps a moment of thought would have helped him. But love is blind, right. The whole thing is almost sadistic to the viewer, with this woman of almost superhuman evil. It's hard to have much sympathy for a guy who has so little personality. The ending is so formulaic.

One of the series' worst

[FlushingCaps · 3/10 · 29 July 2012]

Just watched this one. Don't understand positive reviews.

My main problem is that the doctor wasn't some college kid so infatuated with a pretty singer as to ignore the reasons why they had no chance of being happy together. He was a doctor--this approaching age 30. He was warned about her fickleness early on. She asked him almost as soon as they met about how much money he had--and showed no interest until he inherited from his father. He was told about her sordid past before she ever did more than tease him, but didn't care because he was so hung up on her looks, like a schoolboy.

We never saw them really dating, just a quick marriage once he had money. Then he catches her with another guy on their honeymoon. He should have just gone for an annulment, instead gets himself in a position where she can blackmail him. As soon as the honeymoon is over, she shows that the marriage is a sham to her and plans to leave. He has no choice but to let her take all his inherited money.

I couldn't warm up to the notion that anything the doctor did made any sense. I couldn't see how he had any reason to expect her to make him a good wife--which is what he seemed to want.

REAL SPOILER COMING UP: The biggest hole in the plot came near the end when he came home to a house full of policemen and a guy claiming "I killed her." He is allowed to go see her, and finds her alive, so he finishes her off.

How could he think the cops would let him into a murder scene? How could he think they would be there and not check to see if she was dead or not? For that matter, why did the guy who tried to kill her not leave the scene to let someone else be blamed? Almost nothing he did from start to finish seemed logical, or in keeping with his character's intelligence level. To me, it seemed like one of the weakest episodes in the whole series.

Pretty bad, really bad by this shows standards

[HEFILM · 3/10 · 17 June 2013]

John Gavin tries hard to be a sort of nebbishy leading man. He's not really very good but it is interesting to see him try.

The trouble here is 90 percent of this show is totally predictable and cliché in every aspect. 3 different "song" scenes just seem like padding and or some attempt to make this episode sort of "musical". The characters are totally stock and all are played pretty flatly. None have any depth to them to involve you in the story. Scott Brady has some fun as a hustling piano player but his whole "You'll come back to be baby." dialog is pretty lame as is all of it. Cardboard characters acted by cardboard actors just can't keep your interested for a hour show.

I recall writer James Bridges in an interview saying he talked to Hitchcock about why he couldn't write a feature film for him and Hitchcock said we don't use our TV writers for features. This may have been a polite way of saying, you're not good enough to write features. I have not seen all of his episodes for Hitch yet, but the few I've seen have been really poorly structured and heavily padded. I'm not knocking his emmy nominated THE JAR episode or AN OPEN WINDOW but some of these others.... Not good.

You really get the set up quickly and then wait forever for anything to happen. There is a nicely staged--mostly with the real actors--fight scene and a few nice dolly shots from director Girard.

Finally there are a few twists in the story in the last few minutes, but one is kind of preposterous and the other just turns the whole thing into a very safe TV show.

I guess if you're a Diana Dors fan you might put up with this more than I could. Sometimes she looks good here sometimes kind of bloated and comes off as a second rate Monroe wanna' be here but that's about all the character calls for anyway.

John Gavin an intelligent doctor?

[lbkrahn · 2/10 · 28 March 2016]

If I could point out what bugs me about this episode, it would be John Gavin's character. He is not thinking with his brain, obviously, but that seems odd given he is a doctor and had to go to school for so many years. Whenever anyone questions Nickie's character flaws, Dr. Reed's (Gavin) response is way too smarmy and smug. I wonder if Dr. Reed simply likes dating a floozy that he knows will never be a good wife. I wish his character had been more developed so we would know exactly why he wants to go out with someone of this caliber. That would make a better story.

It was also too far-fetched that Dr. Reed would get into a situation that he could be so easily blackmailed. Not merely unrealistic -- almost unbelievable.

Diana Dors' performance is very good in this episode but one wonders if she is simply playing herself.

The storyline seemed a bit too concocted and trite. Dr. Reed's father dying apparently being the catalyst for them getting back together? That was a bit of a stretch for any plot line. Giving Nickie full control over all of Dr. Reed's bank accounts seems unlikely, as well.

All in all, a weak episode for this series.

Chunky chubette with manly face & weird mouth bleaches her hair

[imdb-25288 · 4/10 · 9 August 2021]

Dudette is described as "beautiful" but it hardly fits the bill here, don't it?! It's more like a bad carbon copy of Jayne Mansfield but with a manly face. The cheeks are all over the place flabby and when she's half lying on the chairs long she gets a double chin. Thick in the face and watching her go away can only think one thing: that shapeless, flat, limp rear is almost down to her knees.

I don't get the appeal but she sang pretty good and her eyes are blue so I guess they're ok. But her mouth is really weird when she talks. I don't get her shape. She's even blimpier than Monroe who copied Harlow who was also pretty chunky, but each copy became more portly and less pretty, so I guess Harlow was alright. If you want a beautiful "voluptuous" (that means curvy) shape, then look no further than Lynda Carter or, to name another margarine face, Raquel Welch. Those were curvy yet slender and toned in the face and arms etc.

Anyway this episode is kinda slow and boring but I can't get past the woman's face. I guess she'd fit in in 2021 when manly women are the norm. But for that era? Heh! She would have passed as beautiful if she had she sung and kept her mouth closed at all other times. Silent type to give the illusion that she was interesting or slim. This episode is a 2/10. Nothing to sneeze at but there's a lot worse schlock out there, so I'm bumping it to a 4/10.

Maybe you liked it so don't get mad and read the other reviews. If you thought she looked good however, there's no accounting for taste, but you have none. That's it.