Dean Stockwell started out as "The Boy With Green Hair" in the 1950's and went on to play a variety of offbeat roles. He was handsome enough to be considered attractive, but odd enough to be seen as sinister. He appeared in lots of these 1960's dramas playing a variety of creepy roles, and he does so here as the intense young David. David can't accept the fact that wide-eyed Susan Oliver, the Annabel of the title, has married someone else, and pursues her anyway. She is much too kind, this Annabel Lee, even when it's obvious that David has become an obsessed stalker, and she nevertheless allows him to call her and send gifts. This infuriates her new husband, whose rash, idiotic need for vengeance leads to its own unhappy conclusion. Meanwhile, David is being pursued by co-worker Linda, who is puzzled as to why this attractive young man is not equally attracted to her, and this being 1962, she can't figure out any reason at all. She stalks him, trespasses, peeks through windows, every bit as creepy as he is, and draws the wrong conclusions for all her efforts. After much ado, stupid Annabelle allows herself to be tricked into visiting David in his remote country home. As is too often the case in these Hitchcock productions, the ladies here begin to act a little too foolishly. Just as Tippi Hedron gratuitously entered a bird infested attic in "The Birds," so Annabelle enters David's isolated home, and once they are alone and she is trapped, confronts him and threatens to call the police. Smart move, lady. Here, things take on a "Psycho" twist, and soon thereafter foolhardy Linda, the ultimate busybody, comes traipsing into the scene. Too many ridiculous things all happen at once towards the end, but nevertheless it makes for entertaining TV. Kathleen Nolan plays Linda in this all-star cast.
Review of Annabel
