Good Evening, Readers. One of my Christmas Presents was a DVD with 4 Episodes of the Classic TV Show that you see listed above. The Disc was chosen due to a name on it- Vincent Price.
You all know that I love Vincent Price by now, right?
Well, let's see how well his Guest Starring Role on this 1958 Episode went...
His night is interrupted by a Guest- a Lawyer who often defended those accused/proven guilty by Price.
They discuss Price's previous cases and he sticks on one in particular.
He tells him a shocking possible truth- his last Case (which ended in conviction and the Death Penalty) was wrong!
He claims that Price missed key evidence and that that wrong man was executed for it.
He posits a story in which the executed man was there, but not actually the killer. Instead, he took the fall for his star-crossed lover.
Of course, we don't actually *know* if this is true.
Regardless, it fails to matter as Price attacks him from behind after being blackmailed with the knowledge (thus ruining Price's reputation as a faultless Detective).
We cut to 2 years later and Price is returning from a long vacation. He shows off his most recent Trophy- a Vase he made before he left.
Well, he committed The Perfect Crime after all.
A darkly-funny bit of TV. Hitchcock was and is a brand name. When you see that name, you expect certain things. You expect a good Plot. You expect some good Acting, You expect a twist or two. This is no exception for his Show. The story involving a Master Detective facing down a possible failure from his past is good. I like that we can infer that he was wrong, but we are never 100% made certain. Its either that or I just refuse to believe that Price could fail, I suppose. The use of Flashbacks is good here, something that TV Shows would definitely abuse in later years. Price is quite good here as he stays rather sedate, not playing the Character broadly. It is only a bit at the end that you get a more overtly humorous performance from him. Even that is pretty mild and makes sense- he's very happy! Gregory holds his own as a Character that starts out nice and slowly turns more vindictive. His anger is justified, so he doesn't seem like a bad guy. Well, at least not until the end, really. At that point, he's pretty bad and gets a dark, but fitting punishment. It also makes you wonder what kind of secret people are hiding when they show you their Pottery. Who did you kill, Grandma?!? It's a good Episode and a great use of Price. I'll have to see if there are more treasures on this Disc, but, for now, I sleep like the dead...
It is also worth noting the fun that Hitchcock had to have had doing his 'blowing bubbles' Intro. What a wacky guy!
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