The Devil vs. the Anderson family... *** This review may contain spoilers *** This review is for a Father Knows Best episode that seems to be a point of contention concerning the film, "Alias Nick Beal" and needs clearing up, as follows... Real name: "Mr. Beal Meets his Match." This is a favorite episode that just aired yesterday (01/15//13) on AntennaTV. It is another of the morality tales that Father Knows Best is so famously known for, with the Andersons actually taking on the Devil and becoming triumphant by the end of the 30 minutes they had to deal with him! There seems to be some controversy on who played the Devil. It is listed here on IMDb as John Williams and NOT listed in Ray Millands' credits. It was listed on the TV credits after the show as being John Williams. It also was listed as being John Williams on the OFFICIAL Father Knows Best website in two places, as being him in the episode listing and in the pdf file that houses the 'actual' script synopsis written at the time with the players listed and all in the old typewriter type, the episode is #111 and is in the fourth season. It is mistakenly listed as being Ray Milland on the Wikipedia website, Mr. Milland did play a Devil's character named NICK Beal in a 1949 movie, "Alias Nick Beal" unconnected to FKB. But our character here is named HARRY Beal, so it is not Mr. Milland reprising his old movie roll as has been suggested on these threads. I'm sure anyone who loves FKB as I and many others do love to get their trivia facts straight as it might come in handy if we ever got on Jeopardy! Also the DVD's of FKB is out on Netflix for renting, they have seasons one thru four, the 4th season (the one we are discussing here) is out and is in my saved NetFlix queue. So any doubts can be erased when personally viewing this episode and seeing John Williams as the Devil. John Williams by the way, played Audrey Hepburns chauffeur father, Thomas Fairchild in 1954's "Sabrina" for anyone wanting to compare him against Harry Beal in FKB. (Interesting note that Mr. Williams and Mr. Milland played together in a fantastic film "Dial M for Murder".) Also you can rent FKB to watch online at Amazon. I haven't looked yet but there may even be some episodes on Hulu or YouTube that could satisfy anyone interested in getting facts earlier than the DVD release. Hope this helps! UPDATE: This episode will be airing again May 30, 2013 on AntennaTV at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. UPDATE: This episode aired today as had been previously noted and I watched it again, it IS John Williams who plays the Devil and it ends with him on a branch outside Jim and Margrets bedroom window and crashing to the ground when he realizes he has 'lost' because Margret will not let Jim go. I hope this correction has been helpful to those faithful to fact. LOL

Unlike a lot of commentators on this site, I found "Alias Nick Beale" to be kind of slow and uninvolving, but that probably just my prejudice against film noir revealing itself. I liked Ray Milland just fine in his role, but the guy who played the "Faust" character dull and uninteresting - probably not the actor's fault, since the character he plays is a self-important blowhard who is willing to take shortcuts to get important reforms done.However, I did like the way the screenplay made things "complicated" for the "hero" as he dealt with more and more unexpected consequences of his initial compromise, and unlike some here, I liked the lead actress' performance as the Jezebel with a heart of gold.There's some heavy-handed and not very convincing sermonizing by a minister that's supposed to serve as the moral center of the film, and I have to say that if that's what we've got for inspiration against the wiles of St. Nick, we're in trouble.Still, I have to give the film credit for some interesting ideas and some good one-liners by "Beale", and a resolution that leaves the hero with something like a 2nd chance.

Rarely spotted on TV even by midweek insomniacs, brushed aside even by aficionados of the Hollywood past, Alias Nick Beal is a top-notch movie that puzzlingly languishes in limbo. It's an unusual but successful cross of the supernatural fantasy films popular in the forties – like Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Heaven Can Wait, The Devil and Daniel Webster – with the grittier conflicts of the big-city exposés in film noir.Thomas Mitchell, a progressive and muckraking mayor, won't rest easy until he eradicates corruption from his unnamed town. But incriminating ledgers detailing the graft of a rival political-machine boss have been burned. Mitchell gets a call asking for a mysterious meeting at a waterfront bar, The China Coast Café, where, like a wraith out of the harbor fogs, materializes Ray Milland. Ordering Barbados rum (with its voodooish connotations), he introduces himself as Nick Beal, which seems to be the short Americanization of Beelzebub. He offers Mitchell the pristine ledgers, from which the mayor can nail down a conviction and propel himself to the governor's mansion; trouble is, now he's stuck with the sinister Beal.Unflappable in his suavity, Milland stays pitchfork-perfect in his scheme to strip Mitchell of his honesty and ideals. He enlists the help of bar floozie Audrey Totter, who turns herself into Mitchell's Gal Friday and diverts his affections from his wife (and conscience) Geraldine Wall. And every time Mitchell thinks he's compromised his principles for the last time or struck his final dirty bargain, in slithers Milland with another twist of the knife, a brand-new temptation. Finally elected to the statehouse, Mitchell finds that he's sold his soul to the very forces that he had always fought...Alias Nick Beal has to be, hands down, the most sure-footed movie John Farrow ever directed; he never slips in sustaining its spectral look or precarious tone. Totter, too, excels in a part that tests her range, from a cat-fighter in a sleazy dive through efficient political aide to repentant cat's-paw. This may be her most fetching performance, particularly in her drunken exchange with a bartender: `What time is it?' `You just asked me that.' `I didn't ask you what I just asked you, I asked you what time it is.' Mitchell and Milland can't be faulted at the top of a cast that includes George Macready as a preacher who can't quite place Milland: `Have you ever had your portrait painted?' he gingerly inquires. `Yes – by Rembrandt in 1655," comes the smug retort. (The screenplay is by Jonathan Latimer, who also penned The Glass Key, Nocturne, They Won't Believe Me, Night Has A Thousand Eyes, and The Big Clock.) This morality tale about the seduction and fall of a promising politician echoes themes explored in the same year's All The King's Men but adds a fanciful metaphysical dimension. That may look like a cop-out, a way to avoid tackling the issues realistically, but the metaphysics can be seen as metaphorical – Satan can be a symbol (and as Macready remarks, maybe he knows it's the twentieth century, too). Whatever one's take on The Spirit That Denies, the movie survives triumphantly on its own terms – the splendid and satisfying Alias Nick Beal doesn't deserve the obscurity that has come to enshroud it.

I saw this film in 1949 at the tender age of 15. Ray Milland had hair then. Don't remember the dialog, or maybe this was the one which only had a music track and no dialog. Ray had the POWER over women, all right! It was VERY good, and I keep watching the movie channels, hoping it will be shown some night. With all the turkeys they run (and re, rerun), it would be welcome and refreshing. I'm tired of "Midway" and "In Harm's Way" every week. John W. Hall