Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season #2

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Season #2

Episode #1: Wet Saturday – A vulnerable man is pinned with a murder he did not commit. Mr. Princey’s daughter has just murdered the schoolmaster. A murderess in the family? That won’t do. It’s up to Mr. Princey to frame someone else for her crime. Mr. Princey’s bratty daughter, Millicent, has just killed the schoolmaster, with whom she was in love, when she found out he had gotten engaged to another woman. A murderess in the family? That won’t do. Mr. Priincey has a shallow dimwit for a son and a wife who, whatever her other qualities, is no good when it comes to covering up a murder. Mr. Princey takes it upon himself to keep Millicent out of prison or the madhouse. Good luck is on his side when Captain Smollet drops by for a visit. Captain Smollet, it seems has just as much motive for murder as Millicent. Mr. Princey is the father of a girl; who has just killed her schoolmaster with a croquet mallet. Princey tries to find a way to protect the family name and prevent his daughter from being charged. Princey located a man who would be a perfect scapegoat, Smollett. Princey takes Smollet to the schoolmaster’s body and draws a gun on him. He gives him two choices: Go with along with Princey’s scheme that makes it look like he committed the murder or be shot on the spot. Smollet chooses the former. Princey makes it look like Smollet committed the crime. He then tells him to keep his mouth shut. Smollet leaves and Princey calls the police. He reports that a murder has just taken place.

Episode #2: Fog Closing In – When her husband goes away on a business trip., Mary Summers is all alone in her house and gripped with a nameless fear. Then an escaped mental patient breaks in. Mary Summers lives in a constant state of fear – fear that threatens to become panic when her husband goes away on a business trip for a week. She’s all alone in a large house when she hears a crash near the back door. Soon she’s face-to-face with the man who has just broken in – a man who she soon realizes is an escaped mental patient. A troubled wife is left alone while her husband travels on business. When she hears strange noises, she goes to investigate… Mary Summers does not want to stay alone at home when her husband Arthur goes away on business. She asks that her family be allowed to stay with her. Arthur refuses her request. While Arthur is away an escaped mental patient breaks into the house. Surprisingly, the mental patient gets along with Mary. She is not afraid of him. She tells him about a dream she has had where someone follows her up the stairs. When the State Hospital arrives, the mental patient makes an escape. After the staff leaves, Mary hears someone coming up the stairs just like in her dream. She find’s Arthur’s pistol as the door opens. At the door is Arthur. He came early when he heard about the escape at the asylum. Even though she knows it is him, Mary shoots him. Then her father calls and she tells them she can come home.

Episode #3: De Mortuis – Professor Rankin’s buddies Wally and Bud stop by to take him fishing. They find him in his cellar, filling in a hole with cement. They suspect he may have also filled it with his wife. Professor Rankin’s two buddies want to take the professor out fishing. But he doesn’t seem to be home. They see that coffee is percolating, figure he’s about to come back any minute, and wait for him. Meanwhile, they gossip about his wife. Much younger than the professor. A dish they call her. She’s also though they don’t use the word a slut. But tells the story of the time she let a truck driver pick her up. Wally tells the story of the time she hit on him. They’re just about to leave when they hear him down in the cellar. He’s filling in a hole. The two men begin to suspect there’s more in that hole than just cement. An old college professor decides to take some actions when he finds out his wife has cheated on him. Clarence Rankin’s promiscuous wife Irene cheats on him constantly. Sadly, he knows nothing about it. One day, two of Clarence’s friends stop by his house. They see him filling a large hole in his basement with cement. Since they don’t see Irene, they believe that Clarence has found out about her cheating and killed her. Instead of going to the police, they talk to Clarence. They tell him that giver her cheating, his actions were probably justified. Clarence denies everything and says that his wife is on a trip. His friends leave after saying they will keep quiet. Later, Irene returns. Now knowing the truth, Clarence asks her to come down to the basement.

Episode #4: Kill with Kindness – Katherine Oldham feeds stew to a homeless man as she struggles to keep the mind of her brother, Fitzhugh a butterfly hunter and birdwatcher on the task of murder. Katherine Oldham sees a homeless man in the park, feeding the pigeons. He looks perfect. Her brother, Fitzhugh, his mind on a bird or his butterfly collection, absently-mindedly agrees. She brings the old man inside and feeds him some stew. The man dimly suspects something is wrong when the eccentric brother blurts out something about killing and substitutes and insurance. But his benefactors seem so nice. And they even give him a new suit of clothes Fitzhugh’s clothes. And they let him spend the night. He may have spent his last nigh on a park bench – or anywhere else. Fitz Oldham plans to torch his home and fake his death to collect the insurance money with the help of his sister. Hoping to pull off an insurance scam, Fitz Oldham and his sister Katherine decide to torch his house and fake Fitz’s death. In order to pull off the scam, they need a body. They find a prospective corpse in a bum named Jorgy. Their plan is to knock him out and place Fitz’s ring around his finger. They will then set fire to the house. All goes according to plan until they need the ring. Unfortunately, Fitz cannot get it off his finger. Since they already set the fire, they decide to wake up Jorgy and escort him out of the blazing house. People who witness the “rescue” praise Fitz for saving the old man from the fire.

Episode #5: None Are So Blind – An antique dealer feels he should be enjoying the finer things in life, but his Aunt Muriel is the one with all the money. Finding another man’s wallet gives him an evil idea. Seymour Johnson is a vain, silly man, but that’s not how he sees himself. Nor does he see himself the way his late father did – as a man who couldn’t be trusted with a large inheritance, a man who needed to make his own way in the world. That’s why Seymour’s father left all his money to his sister, Seymour’s Aunt Muriel. Of course, once she is dead, the money will all go to him. But the middle-aged Aunt Muriel does not seem destined to die anytime soon .In the meantime, how will Seymour keep his antique shop going? More important, how will he be able to enjoy any of the finer things in life? When Seymour, reduced to eating in a diner, finds a wallet someone had dropped, the answer comes to him immediately. Seymour Johnson disguises himself as another person in order to kill his wealthy aunt. When he is questioned by police, he gives himself away due to something he cannot (or will not) see.

Episode #5: None Are So Blind – An antique dealer feels he should be enjoying the finer things in life, but his Aunt Muriel is the one with all the money. Finding another man’s wallet gives him an evil idea. Seymour Johnson is a vain, silly man, but that’s not how he sees himself. Nor does he see himself the way his late father did – as a man who couldn’t be trusted with a large inheritance, a man who needed to make his own way in the world. That’s why Seymour’s father left all his money to his sister, Seymour’s Aunt Muriel. Of course, once she is dead, the money will all go to him. But the middle-aged Aunt Muriel does not seem destined to die anytime soon .In the meantime, how will Seymour keep his antique shop going? More important, how will he be able to enjoy any of the finer things in life? When Seymour, reduced to eating in a diner, finds a wallet someone had dropped, the answer comes to him immediately. Seymour Johnson disguises himself as another person in order to kill his wealthy aunt. When he is questioned by police, he gives himself away due to something he cannot (or will not) see. Seymour, a vain, uninspired young man, is talking with his aunt in her home. Despite his flattery, she makes it clear to him that under no circumstances can Seymour expect to get any more money from her until after her death. His father willed her the money for a reason: Giving to Seymour would be a mistake, and never help to develop his character as work could. Seymour is a dreamer, someone who only sees what he wants to see, and even his little antique shop is an utter failure. She gently puts down this occupation as well, and Seymour begins plotting her demise. As he plans how to get rid of the old woman, one day Seymour stumbles upon someone’s wallet while in a café. There is no money inside, only a driver’s license, but it spurs Seymour’s idea. When Seymour tells his wife of his scheme, she scoffs, not even thinking him capable of being industrious when it comes to murder. Seymour begins disguising himself with a wig and makeup and living out a new identity in New Jersey, making himself hideous to the neighbors in order to give himself an alibi. At last, he confronts his aunt again in her home. She laughs at him for having written a blackmail letter to her in the name of his alter ego. He asks her if she’s taken it to the police, and she again laughs. The letter is in the waste basket. As he puts together a puzzle, Seymour shoots her in the head, exits the room and when the maid comes, he pretends to go after the guy who must have done it. Confident he’s thought of everything, Seymour relaxes and begins enjoying his aunt’s money and estate. One morning, while he’s eating, the detective who originally questioned him returns to talk with him again. Seymour asks if he has found the perpetrator and the detective says, “We’re close.” The detective then proceeds to tell him that Seymour’s aunt had told him a great deal about his nephew, and the detective stares at Seymour until he grows uncomfortable. The one distinguishing feature that neither the disguise nor Seymour were able to hide or acknowledge was large, obvious birthmark on the right side of his face below his eye.

Episode #6: Toby – New York, 1910: Bookkeeper Al Birch expects the arrival of his sweetheart Edwina from 20 years ago. When she arrives, she is still every bit of the lady. But she doesn’t come alone. New York, 1910: In a poor neighborhood, a heat wave is making everyone weary and truculent .Meanwhile, Mr. Birch is renting a basement flat for his fiancée, Edwina. She was his sweetheart twenty years ago; now, thanks to a newspaper advertisement she placed, the two have found each other again. He wants everything to be perfect for her arrival, which means, among other things, a dozen roses. She loved roses. It strikes him as a bad sign when he breaks the vase the roses were to go in. The first real sign of trouble is seeing Edwina herself. She’s still a beautiful woman and every bit the lady she always was. But she doesn’t come alone. She arrives with a bundle in a baby blanket. This first shock gives away to more unpleasant surprises and mysterious behavior from the woman he hopes, at long last, to marry. Albert finds his childhood love who agrees to marry him. Albert Birch’s childhood sweetheart Edwina Freel gets in touch with him and, surprisingly, agrees to marry him. She arrives with her sickly baby named Toby. She tells Albert that the baby is her dead sister’s. Edwina turns out to be rather reclusive. She does not permit Albert to come anywhere near Toby. Later, two men arrive and take Edwina back to the asylum from which she escaped. As she is being taken away, she pleads to Albert to take care of Toby. He goes to Toby’s room and finds a cat. On his collar is the name “Toby.”

Episode #7: Alibi Me – Georgie Minnelli killed his old childhood enemy Lucky Moore for interfering in his pinball machine racket. Now Georgie desperately needs an alibi. Georgie Minnelli confronts Lucky Moore, his old childhood enemy, for interfering in his pinball machine racket. Georgie waves a gun in Lucky’s face, but Lucky isn’t intimidated. A cop named Larkin has just been made Lieutenant, and Larkin vowed long ago that if either of these hated rivals turns up dead, the other had better have a good alibi. Georgie couldn’t possibly get away with it. But Lucky has pushed Georgie too far and his old enemy shoots him dead anyway. Now the young gangster is desperate for an alibi. But getting one won’t be easy. Georgie is a hoodlum looking for an alibi after the death of his rival. Georgie and Lucky are rival gangsters who know that if one of them is killed, the other would be the police’s prime suspect. One day, Lucky insults Georgie and is shot dead. Grorgie then goes looking for someone to give him an alibi. After many failures, he finally convinces his landlady. He instructs her to tell the police that he was home all day. When a detective shows up, the landlady gives the alibi. A delivery boy then arrives. He carries a package for Georgie from Lucky. The boy asks for a tip and Georgie refuses. The delivery boy calls Georgie cheap and reveals that he tried to deliver the package five times that day. The detective overhears the boy’s statement and arrests Georgie.

Episode #8: Conversation Over a Corpse – Cissie Enright is not exactly thrilled with the idea of poisoning the real estate man. But her sister, Joanna, insists that it’s the only way. Cissie Enright is not exactly thrilled with the idea of poisoning Mr. Brenner, the real estate man. But her sister, Joanna, insists that it’s the only way. Otherwise, he is going to take the house from them. Cissie reluctantly poisons the tea. Mr. Brenner arrives with no idea what is in store for him. But things don’t go as Joanna and Cissie had planned either. Two sisters poison the banker who holds their mortgage. Mr. Brenner makes a down payment on a house. The house’s owners, Cissie and Johanna Enright say that they do not want to sell. He threatens them with a lawsuit, but he is poisoned. He collapses and the sisters discuss what they should do. Johanna wants to finish him off with more poison, while Cissie prefers a gun. Brenner revives and pitches on sister against the other. He gets the gun from Cissie and shoots Johanna. Soon the police arrive; Brenner clears Cissie of her sister’s murder. After the police leave, Cissie finishes him off with poison so the house is all for her.

Episode #9: Crack of Doom – A no-limit game of Poker brings a real estate man to the brink of ruin. In the club car of a New York-Chicago streamliner, Mason Bridges adamantly refuses his friends’ request to join him in the next car for a game of penny-ante. One of the friends presses him about this refusal, and Mason tells him a story of the time he had unwittingly become a thief. Years before, he was an office manager for a real estate firm. An unpleasant business associated named Sam Klinker gives him $10,000 to put in the company safe – and then invites him to a no-limit game of poker. Circumstances conspire to bring Mason Bridges to the brink of ruin. And a single card will make all the difference. Mason Bridges is on a train with some pals who ask him to indulge them in a game of poker. He obstinately refuses, and when pressed, recounts the story of how poker nearly ruined him. It was shortly after college and he was working as an office manager. A business associate named Klinker pressured him to play a game of poker that evening. Before the man left his office, he gave Mason ten thousand dollars that was to be for a transaction with another client .When Mason lost a thousand dollars within an hour, he quit the game. Unable to walk away from Klinker’s smirk, Mason went back to the office and helped himself to four thousand dollars of Klinker’s money, figuring he’d use his own savings as backup. He lost it within an hour. When he got home to his apartment, wondering how he’d explain things to his wife, he discovered that the ledger is blank and that she had secretly used their savings for an investment that went south. Mason returned to his office and took more money, thinking that he had a queen in the hole. Turned out, his card was a jack, which he misread. While he sweated it out, Klinker ended up putting everything that he had on the table for what turned to be three tens. The end result was that Mason won due to his “bluff” and walked away with the pile of money. The only reason that he bluffed was because he thought that he actually had a queen, not a jack. He concludes the story of affirming that this is why he will never, ever play poker again. As he exits the train, car, another colleague comes in and wants to wager a friendly drink. The man who has heard Mason’s story replies, “Not on your life.”

Episode #10: Jonathan – A college boy with an unnaturally close relationship to his father suspects his stepmother of foul play. Gil Daliford has an unnaturally close relationship to his father, whom he calls by his first name, Jonathan. “Every important moment of my life is a moment I had with Jonathan,” he says. But after eighteen years of being a widower, Jonathan finds he’s ready to settle down with a new wife. Before Gil even meets her, he declares his everlasting hatred for her. And that hatred only intensifies after his father dies. Of a heart attack, the doctor said. But Gil suspects foul play. A widower remarries but his son does not take this too kindly. Jonathan Dalilford’s son is resentful of his new wife. When Jonathan dies of poisoning, he accuses his stepmother. Later, however, it is revealed that Gil tried to poison his stepmother, but ended up killing his father by mistake.

Episode #11: The Better Bargain – A middle-aged mobster suspects his young wife is cheating on him. He gets in touch with Harry Silver, the best hit man in the business. Louis Koster is a middle-aged mobster, now running a more-or-less legitimate business and enjoying a beautiful young wife. That is, until he suspects his wife of having an affair. A mousy little private eye confirms it. Now the only thing Louis “The King” Koster has left to do is hire Harry Silver. Silver is the best hit man in the business, but his price may come too high. A mobster hires a hit man to kill his cheating wife and lover. Mobster Louis “The King” Koster believes that his wife and sole heir is unfaithful. He hires a hit man to kill her for twenty thousand dollars. The hit man agrees, but he then shoots Koster dead. The hit man was Marian’s lover. Since she will inherit everything, the hit man decided to go with the better bargain.

EPISODE #12: THE ROSE GARDEN – A book publisher visits two elderly sisters at their Louisiana mansion. One of them has written a murder mystery. And he learns that it may contain more fact than fiction. The cab driver taking Mr. Vinton to his destination is surprised to see he has business with Miss Julia Pickering and not her sister, Miss Cordelia. Miss Cordelia A.KA Mrs. Welles, has her sister under her thumb. He’s even more surprised to find that Miss Julia has written a book that Mr. Winton wants to publish. When Mr. Vinton arrives at the elderly sisters’ magnolia-scented Louisiana mansion, he’s the one surprised, finding that the house perfectly matches the one Miss Julia had described in her story. As a guest in the house, he finds old furniture carved with lion’s heads, brass cherubs,, a stone bench in a rose garden – all things from the book. Mr. Vinton’s mind becomes troubled as he wonders how much the rest of Miss Julia’s murder mystery might be true. A publisher finds more fact than fiction in an author’s text. Alexander Vinton is a publisher who receives a murder mystery from a woman named Julia Picker. Alexander is disturbed by the book’s feeling of authenticity. He visits Julia and comes to believe that her tale of a murdered husband buried in a rose garden is true. Julia’s sister convinces him that it is not and proceeds to talk him into not publishing the book. After he leaves, Julia confronts her sister and reveals that it was Cordelia that murdered her husband.

EPISODE #13: MR. BLANCHAR’D’S SECRET – A mystery writer’s imagination gets her in trouble when she turns her over-stimulated mind to her new next-door neighbors and wonders why she has never seen the wife. The kooky Babs Fenton’s imagination is a great asset when writing murder mysteries. But it does not foster peace and harmony in the home, especially not when she has an unimaginative corporate lawyer for a husband. Her over-stimulated mind begins working on her next-door neighbors, the Blanchards, when she realizes she’s never seen Mrs. Blanchard. And Mr. Blanchard seems less than eager for her to pay a call. Has Mr. Blanchard, .a high school teacher and former university professor, murdered his wife? A homemaker decides to play investigator when starts to think that her neighbor is up to no good. Babs Fenton has an overactive imagination. She believes that her new neighbor Charles Blanchard has killed his wife. Later, Mrs. Blanchard shows up at her door and introduces herself. That night, however, Babs sees Charles Blanchard carrying something from the house. Babs again becomes convinced that Mrs. Blanchard has been murdered. Again, however, she is proved wrong when Mrs. Blanchard shows up at her door. Mrs. Blanchard informs Babs that Charles has taken some belongings and left because of a fight. Mrs. Blanchard then leaves. Babs notices that a lighter is missing and comes up with a theory that Mrs. Blanchard is a kleptomaniac. Later, this theory proves wrong, as well and when Mrs. Blanchard shows up and announces reconciliation with her husband. She also returns the lighter, saying that her husband fixed it.

EPISODE #14: JOHN BROWN’S BODY – An upstart furniture designer colludes with his boss’s wife to drive her husband mad. John Brown and company makes furniture and has been a solid business for years. But young Harold Skinner want wants to shake things up and make modern furniture. John Brown will have none of it .Soon Harold meets John Brown’s wife, an attractive woman in her 30s, who married for money – though she denies it. Unlike her husband, she’s excited about Skinner’s ,modern ideas and wants to help him. Especially after the two of them become lovers. Harold comes up with a “wonderful horrible idea” to get John Brown out of the way: Convince him he’s losing his mind. A woman has a husband committed to a mental institution. John Brown is committed to an institution by his wife Vera and his business partner Harold .Both believe that John’s furniture designs are destroying his business. Their plot works, but after John is committed the business begins to lose money. The two decide to get John back. John, however, likes the institution he is staying in and manages to convince the doctors he is insane.

EPISODE #15: CRACKPOT – On their way to a hotel, two newlyweds have car trouble. Mr. Moon stops to help them, but ruins his suit in the process. He becomes enraged and threatens them. They manage to get away. They check into their hotel, but discover that Mr. Moon is staying in the room right next to them.

EPISODE #16: NIGHTMARE IN 4-D – A man who reads too much pulp fiction finds himself playing Sir Galahad to the blonde in the apartment downstairs. It seems she’s burdened with a corpse. Harry Parker in apartment 4-D reads a lot of pulp fiction and watches a lot of late-night TV. That lends an air of inauthenticity to the story he tells his wife in the morning about what happened at 2 AM. It seems the blonde in 3-D needed him to play Sir Galahad. At 2 AM, she has a man in her apartment .And he’s dead. “Miss Elliott, I can’t get involved in a murder,” says Harry. “I’m a married man.” But it isn’t long before he finds himself helping her take the corpse down to the basement. Was the whole thing a dream? A husband has a vague memory of helping a woman get rid of a corpse. Harry Parker and his wife Norma live in apartment 4-D. Their next door neighbor is an actress named Lainie. One day, she knocks on Parker’s door and asks for help. Lainie needs someone to get rid of the body of Bill Nelson. He was shot through a window in her apartment and now lays there dead. Lainie wants Harry to move the body downstairs to the basement. She fears bad publicity. When Harry wakes up the next day, he thinks it was all a bad dream. When he goes to the basement he finds the police. Later, Harry’s wife admits to having an affair with Bill. When the police learn of this, Harry becomes the chief suspect in Bill’s murder.