User Reviews

Margot (Phyllis Thaxter) calls the plumbers to fix a leak. The guy they send out, Jack (Lee Philips), turns out to be really creepy...with very strange boundaries. Instead of fixing the leak, he keeps trying to talk to Margot and engage her in conversation...and she is obviously put off by this. Nonetheless, she allows him to continue working...and he turns out to be a blackmailer who apparently has made a habit of this. What's next? See the show.

This is a decent episode, though it hardly seems like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and is more like a crime program. This is because although there is a twist, it isn't very ironic nor as satisfying as you'd hope for from the series. It's good...should have been better.

I'm not sure why the entry is titled The Deadly, which doesn't seem appropriate, at all. It is a fairly mild episode, but not without interest. So what the heck's up with this plumber (Phillips). He's there to fix a leak in Mrs. Brenner's (Thaxter) comfortable suburban home, yet acts awfully familiar for a stranger, especially when he unfolds her nightgown. Apparently, he knows his way around the entire neighborhood. So what's he up to and what should she do.

Phyllis Thaxter was an early series favorite and is well cast here as an attractive housewife with an upscale husband (Stevens). Speaking of Craig Stevens, this was shortly before he trimmed his hair for the chic and trendy Peter Gunn series. Also, handsome Lee Phillips makes for a breezy and surprisingly spic and span plumber whose bad grammar sort of comes and goes.

Frankly, I was hoping for a more severe comeuppance, but I guess that would have been awkward with so many culprits. Instead, it's a kind of poetic justice that brings a chuckle instead of a shudder.

Another one of Robert C. Dennis' memorable tales, this one about sly plumber Lee Phillips who goes to work for some upper middle class ladies in the neighborhood --then blackmails them -- promising he'll tell their husbands all about their affairs with HIM if they don't pay up BIG TIME.

Now there's a real switch, and does this guy have a kingsize ego or what? You have give the story an "A" for originality, and Phillips is perfect in this role, a real work of art. He later went on to become a popular tv director.

The buck naturally stops with a defiant housewife named Margot, well played by Phyllis Thaxter, who has ideas of her own. Phillips finally meets his match in a twist ending you can't miss. Craig Stevens (PETER GUNN) plays Margot's husband. Also watch for some very familiar actresses here, but Phyllis Thaxter, as always, is a stand out.

A Hitchcock gem worthy of a chuckle.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 11 remastered Universal dvd box set. 17 hrs. 2007 release.

"The Deadly" is the first of seven 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes directed by Don Taylor. It's another episode that stars Phyllis Thaxter, who was never less than good regardless of the overall quality of the episode. Season 3 started off very strongly and there were many very good and more episodes, though like the previous two seasons it was up and down with some disappointments. Did like the premise, though it is not very 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'-like agreed.

My overall impression of "The Deadly" was a bit mixed, while finding a lot to like about it. It is not exceptional and it is a case of the lead performance being better than the episode itself, not uncommon actually for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', but it is above average and not too bad a first episode for Taylor. As far as Season 3 and 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' go, "The Deadly" is a long way from being one of the worst episodes (though perhaps around low-ish middle for Season 3). It is also far from being one of the best.

Faring best is the acting, with Thaxter perfectly cast and in full command and understanding of her material. A wide range of emotions conveyed with nuance and poignancy, with no signs of overwrought-ness. Lee Phillips is suitably unsettling and Craig Stevens is solid too. Hitchcock's bookending is delightfully ironic.

Count me in as another person who liked the ending a lot, it is not one of the most unpredictable or suspenseful endings of the series but it was plausible, had some tension and didn't feel like a cop out or that it had run out of ideas. The writing generally is intriguing and thought provoking, not sounding melodramatic. The story has intriguing moments, the production values are simple and have atmosphere and the theme music is appropriately macabre.

While there is intrigue in the story, it is lacking in suspense and feels a little on the bland and over familiar side on the whole with not much that is truly memorable other than Thaxter and the ending. Do agree that it doesn't feel like 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and more a crime serial. Taylor directs with competence, but there is little that is inspired and distinguished with indication of inexperience in this kind of story.

Again, the script interests enough but it could have done with a good deal more tautness and been less talk heavy in the middle. The episode could have gotten going a little quicker.

In conclusion, above average if unexceptional. 6/10.

This is a pretty average episode, and I'm sure they've done this same story before (maybe on the same show). Sometimes the 30-minute anthology format means that you can go back to the same well for the same drink of water, but maybe approach it from a different angle and dress it up to make it seem a little fresher.

In this case, it's well acted and keeps moving, and the 1950's morality is an interesting time-capsule moment. (In a lot of entertainment from this era, the simpler solutions were simply not possible.)

What makes it worth watching is the cheerful acting, and the ending, which is pretty predictable but nonetheless well done and very, very satisfactory.

I guess if one had the gall of this guy, he might just get away with it. An easy course nowadays would be to claim an attempted sexual assault. A dose of this medicine would have kept him tied up in knots for some time. Of course, this was the fifties. The housewives were dependent on the guys at the office and knew they had to toe the line or else. It's a pathetic commentary on the writers that this is the way they saw women's roles. That at the conclusion, we see a neighborhood of clones of the main character. The fun of the episode is that we ache for retribution against this jerk. He is actually a felon and an extortionist and deserves a lot more than he gets. It's a pretty weak episode but it has a few moments.