User Reviews

This edition of "The Star and the Story" stars Dan Duryea--a guy most associated with playing cockroach-like guys in films and on TV. Here, however, his part is more complex. While he is a man who has served 15 years in prison and is now in a mental asylum, he isn't a bad man--or at least he wasn't. It seems that Jim was convicted for murder--but this was based on the testimony of a child who made the whole thing up just to get attention!! Now, years later, this witness (Beverly Garland) comes to Jim and tells him she's going to try to make it all up to him! How can she make up for 15 years of his life? And, can Jim possibly trust this woman?!

Seeing how this sweet and interesting story plays out is a treat. It also helps that both the leads were really convincing. I know I am a bit of a softy, but I though this one was great--especially with the rather schmaltzy turn towards the end.

This is a 25 minute episode from a television series, The Star and The Story, that is intriguing and even unexpectedly sweet.

Dan Duryea plays a man living in an asylum, cut off from the world and alone, having given up on life after having spent 15 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. He receives an unexpected visit from a woman (Beverly Garland) who tells him that she was the young girl who, many years before, lied, giving false testimony at his trial that she saw him commit the murder. Wracked with guilt for years over her childhood lie and the price he paid for it, she has now hunted him down and, as a widow, offers to help him start a new life with her at her California ranch. Duryea, with nothing to lose, takes up her kind offer - but the anger within him burns deep.

I was surprised at how involving this little TV drama was. For starters you don't quite ever know where the story is headed except there are hints that Duryea appears to want some kind of vengeance.

Both Duryea and Garland deliver sensitive portrayals. Duryea, in particular, has a complex characterization, and fans of the screen tough guy should be especially pleased at the subtle layers to his portrayal. He was the kind of actor who could play it bitter and mean, and for a while you are kept in some suspense as to what his character plans to do, assisted in no little way by the mixed ambiguity of Duryea's performance.

There are at least three prints that I spotted of The Lie currently available on You Tube, all seem to be restored. Fans of Duryea won't be disappointed.