Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958)
Series of unrelated short stories covering elements of crime, horror, drama and comedy about people of different species committing murders, suicides, thefts and other sorts of crime caused by certain motivations; perceived or not.
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Episode 1 - Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat
Release Date: 27 Sep. 1960Twice a month, Mrs. Bixby travels to Baltimore to visit an elderly aunt, her only living relative. Or so she tells her dentist husband. In fact, she visits the Colonel, her rich lover. Before returning home, he gives her a gift of a fur coat - along with a letter saying that they won't be seeing other any more. Mrs. Bixby decides to pawn the coat but her elaborate scheme to explain the coat to her husband doesn't quite go as planned.
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Episode 2 - The Doubtful Doctor
Release Date: 4 Oct. 1960A doctor examines a man who suffers from blackouts, in which he reverts to living and seeing things two years back in time.
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Episode 3 - A Very Moral Theft
Release Date: 11 Oct. 1960Helen's brother John informs her that he is soon to be married and they'll have to decide what to do about the house they share. Helen is quite attracted to Harry Wade, the owner of a lumber yard who has fallen on hard times after one of his customers goes bankrupt. Helen decides to help Harry out with an $8,000 "loan" after he assures her that he can repay her within 48 hours. When things don't work out as planned, Harry has a decision to make.
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Episode 4 - The Contest for Aaron Gold
Release Date: 18 Oct. 1960Bernie Samuelson is a ceramic arts teacher at a children's summer camp. From the very first day, he notices that young Aaron Gold has a real talent for sculpture. Aaron much prefers ceramics to swimming classes but when the camp Director criticizes Bernie for Aaron's lateness at swimming, Bernie promises not to hold him back. After a few weeks though, Bernie lets Aaron skip swimming and then learns that Aaron is has yet to complete any of the camp activities. As parents' day approaches, the Director flies into a rage when he realizes Aaron has yet to complete his ...
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Episode 5 - The Five-Forty-Eight
Release Date: 25 Oct. 1960A mentally unstable secretary finally catches up to her cruel former boss and makes him listen to what she has to say, at gunpoint.
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Episode 6 - Pen Pal
Release Date: 1 Nov. 1960A no parole prisoner breaks out prison to meet the woman pen pal he has fallen in love with, but only finds her aunt at home.
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Episode 7 - Outlaw in Town
Release Date: 15 Nov. 1960Tony Lorca arrives in a small town in the middle of a blizzard to a less than pleasant reception in the local saloon. One of the locals says he's seen him before but leaves the saloon before trouble starts. Lorca loses his gun in a poker game at which point the same local returns with a sheriff's poster: Lorca is a wanted man with a $5000 reward on his head. Seeing no way out, Lorca auctions himself to the highest bidder, offering to turn himself in without a fuss. His plan is to spend the money and have a good time before he meets the hangman. Turns out he killed the...
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Episode 8 - O Youth and Beauty!
Release Date: 22 Nov. 1960Cash Bentley is having a hard time coping with middle age. A one time champion hurdler, he now drinks a bit too much and doesn't quite earn enough money to pay for the lifestyle he would like to provide for his family, such as a membership at the local country club. Despondent he decides to try one last "race", with tragic results.
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Episode 9 - The Money
Release Date: 29 Nov. 1960Larry and Angie Chetnik are always bickering about money. She wants more of it and he assures her that he has plans to get a job with a better future. Larry visits his father's one-time friend Mr. Bregornick hoping to land a job. Bregornick does offer him a job and tells Larry to come to his home that evening, since that's where he conducts most of his business. After several months of doing this, Larry decides that the best way to get money will be to steal it from Bregornick.
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Episode 10 - Sybilla
Release Date: 6 Dec. 1960Horace and Sybilla Meade return home after their wedding. Sybilla is a very un-demanding wife and agrees to all of her husband's requests. Horace is a bit of an odd duck and very set in his ways. Meals must be served at specific times and Sybilla must never enter his study. She never gets upset or raises her voice and is always accommodating. Over time, Horace comes to distrust her, to the point where he even tries to kill her. He changes his attitude when she tells him of a plot in a murder mystery she is reading and realizes that he may be in trouble. Unfortunately ...
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Episode 11 - The Man with Two Faces
Release Date: 13 Dec. 1960A woman looking at pictures in a police mug book is shocked to see a picture of her son-in-law, who's living at her home with her daughter.
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Episode 12 - The Baby-Blue Expression
Release Date: 20 Dec. 1960A beautiful, simple minded blonde changes her mind, after conspiring with her lover to kill her rich loving husband.
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Episode 13 - The Man Who Found the Money
Release Date: 27 Dec. 1960A teacher reports to the police that he found 92,000 dollars in a clip, amid claims that 10,000 dollars of the money is missing.
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Episode 14 - The Changing Heart
Release Date: 3 Jan. 1961Looking to have an old pocket watch repaired, Dane Ross stops in at Ulrich Klemm's shop. He's amazed by the old man's tales of the special clocks he has built over the years with moving parts such a marching soldiers and flying birds. They strike up a friendship and Dane is asked to stay for dinner which he gladly accepts, especially after he meets Ulrich's pretty granddaughter, Lisa. Over time, Dane and Lisa fall in love but theirs is a secret romance as Lisa says she can never leave as long as her grandfather is alive. Dane has to relocate to another city and after ...
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Episode 15 - Summer Shade
Release Date: 10 Jan. 1961The Kendalls move into their new home in a rural area of Massassuchetts and are concerned that their 9-year old daughter Kate wont make any friends until school starts in a few weeks. They're quite pleased when she tells them she's met Lettie another girls her age. They worry however when despite repeated attempts, they never seem to meet Lettie and think that Kate's playmate may be imaginary. The lady from whom they bought the house and who babysits from time to time finds a solution for them in the form of Judy, a 9 year old girl who also needs a playmate. A ...
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Episode 16 - A Crime for Mothers
Release Date: 24 Jan. 1961Jane and Ralph Birdwell get an unexpected and unwelcome visit from Mrs. Meade, their foster daughter's biological mother. It's been seven years since they took responsibility for the girl, but an adoption was never formalized as Mrs. Meade had simply disappeared. Meade now wants money from the Birdwells and threatens to sue to get her daughter back. A private detective suggests that Mrs. Meade just take her daughter and demand $25,000 from the Birdwells to give her back. She agrees but things don't quite go as the planned.
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Episode 17 - The Last Escape
Release Date: 31 Jan. 1961Joe Ferlini is a Houdini-like escape artist who performs in nightclubs. He claims to be the fastest at getting out of a straight jacket but wants to make a bigger splash. He proposes to have himself handcuffed, tied with a rope, locked into a trunk and dumped into a nearby river. His promoter agrees but his wife Wanda and her lover Tommy arrange for the inevitable. When a coroner's demands to examine Ferlini's body, it seems he may have made the greatest escape of all!
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Episode 18 - The Greatest Monster of Them All
Release Date: 14 Feb. 1961Hal is a producer of cheap horror films. He decides to cast has-been actor Ernst von Croft in his next movie, a cheap vampire film for the teenage market. von Croft was once billed as the Greatest Monster of them All and sees this as his great comeback, but when he sees the final product, he's the one who's horrified.
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Episode 19 - The Landlady
Release Date: 21 Feb. 1961Billy Weaver has just relocated to a small English village to take up a new appointment. Strangers arouse suspicion in the village at the best of times but all the more so now due to a rash of burglaries. Billy however sees an advert in a window for a room to let and finds that his prospective landlady to be quite pleasant, offering a nice room at a very reasonable price. He is perplexed however when she later mentions that two other gentlemen are also staying in the house. He has never seen nor heard of them before, so just who are these two men?
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Episode 20 - The Throwback
Release Date: 28 Feb. 1961When Enid's boyfriend Eliot presses her, she finally admits that she has been seeing another man, Cyril Hardeen. She agrees to break it off with Cyril whom she describes as a older, gentler man who wouldn't harm a flea. When they finally meet, Eliot finds Cyril much as Enid described him. In fact, Cyril describes himself as a throwback - someone who values honor and civility above all else. Cyril also has no intention of giving Enid up and so puts into action a plan to ensure that she will remain his.
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Episode 21 - The Kiss-Off
Release Date: 7 Mar. 1961Ernie Walters has just been released after six years in prison. It was determined that he was falsely convicted of a gas station robbery and now wants to get even with the detective and District Attorney who convicted him. Wearing a disguise, Walters robs the local tax office but drops his hotel room key as he makes his escape. He's quickly re-arrested by the same detective who arrested him six years previously but the witnesses can't quite identify him. Will he get away with it?
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Episode 22 - The Horse Player
Release Date: 14 Mar. 1961Father Amion discovers that the large amounts of money turning up on the collection plate come from a grateful horse player who has hit a winning streak.
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Episode 23 - Incident in a Small Jail
Release Date: 21 Mar. 1961A suspected serial killer is put in a jail house with a salesman, while a lynch mob waits outside.
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Episode 24 - A Woman's Help
Release Date: 28 Mar. 1961Arnold Burton hires a very attractive nurse, Miss Greco, to care for his bedridden and demanding wife, Elizabeth. Over a period of months, Arnold and Miss Greco fall in love and concoct a scheme to slowly poison Elizabeth. She catches them kissing one evening and demands that Miss Greco leave. Realizing that his wife controls all of the money, he reluctantly agrees. Arnold then arranges for his wife to interview three candidates to replaces the now departed nurse and she takes great delight in hiring the eldest, a grandmotherly type. Little does she know that she is ...
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Episode 25 - Museum Piece
Release Date: 4 Apr. 1961Mr. Hollister now runs a small museum that is actually something of a shrine to his late son, Ben. He tells a visitor that the human skeleton in the museum is actually that of his son. In a flashback he recounts that his son was hunting a fox for his collection of stuffed animals when he comes across Tim McCaffrey, the son of a wealthy and influential rancher. A fight breaks out and Tim is accidentally shot. Despite his protestations that it was all an accident, he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Once there, he loses all interest in life. But just who...
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Episode 26 - Coming, Mama
Release Date: 11 Apr. 1961Lucy Baldwin rushes home when she hears her mother has taken ill but by the time she arrives, her mother seems fine. It seems that her mother is very possessive and the doctor confirms to Lucy that her mother faked the attack only because she was out with her friend, Arthur. It seems that her mother has done this before and Arthur, who very much wants to marry Lucy, tells her she has only until the next day to choose between him or her mother. Desperate to get out of her predicament Lucy decides to take drastic action, but with unanticipated results.
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Episode 27 - Deathmate
Release Date: 18 Apr. 1961A handsome gigolo is seduced by a beautiful rich young woman to kill her older boring husband.
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Episode 28 - Gratitude
Release Date: 25 Apr. 1961Meyer Fine is a casino manager who is so afraid of death that he can't even attend funerals. One evening he expresses concern at the amount of money being lost by a young gambler, who is later found to have committed suicide. When one of Fine's henchmen is killed by fellow mobsters, he becomes convinced that he's next. Terrified at what the future may hold, he begs his butler to help him in the only way he knows how.
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Episode 29 - The Pearl Necklace
Release Date: 2 May 1961Howard Rutherford is a very rich, elderly gentleman. Out of the blue, he proposes to his young secretary, Charlotte Jameson. He tells her that he is not in good health and that she will inherit his entire $11 million fortune. Charlotte initially dismisses the idea but her fiancé, Mark Lansing, thinks that a one year delay is very little to pay given the size of Charlotte's potential inheritance. Charlotte eventually marries Howard, who turns out to be in far better health than he let on. Every year on their wedding anniversary Howard gives her a beautiful pearl to add...
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Episode 30 - You Can't Trust a Man
Release Date: 9 May 1961Crystal Coe is visited by her husband Tony, who has just been released after seven years in prison. Tony resents that he went to jail for a theft Crystal committed and threatens to ruin her reputation since she re-married without ever divorcing him. Crystal has changed her name and has become a successful singer and wants nothing to do with him. She kills Tony and tells the police she has no idea who he is and is just a deranged fan who kidnapped her. The police believe her but also tell her about the inheritance the dead man's wife will get.
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Episode 31 - The Gloating Place
Release Date: 16 May 1961Susan Harper is an unhappy high schooler who falsely reports an attack in the park in order to get attention and make herself more important than she is. The press get hold of the story and Susan is more than happy to oblige with an ever expanding tale. When the press seem to be losing interest, Susan goes to extraordinary lengths to keep the "park prowler" story alive, with tragic results.
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Episode 32 - Self Defense
Release Date: 23 May 1961Mr. Clarke is incredibly terrified of guns being pointed at him, and feels he must destroy anyone who would do that to him, like he does to one young robber.
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Episode 33 - A Secret Life
Release Date: 31 May 1961James Howgill is bored with his life and his marriage and announces to his wife that he is leaving her. She tells him to do what he likes but that she will never grant him a divorce. In time, he takes up with an attractive young woman and decides to try to force the divorce issue with his wife. His lawyer however informs him that he has no grounds for a divorce and suggests that he hire a private detective to see if his wife may have taken up with another man. He agrees but is quite sure that it is not in his wife's character to carry on. Needless to say, he is ...
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Episode 34 - Servant Problem
Release Date: 6 Jun. 1961A obnoxious wife finds her husband who walked out on her 22 years ago, and tries to force him come back to her with the use of threats.
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Episode 35 - Coming Home
Release Date: 13 Jun. 1961Harry Beggs is released from prison after serving his 20 year sentence. He's actually a reformed man, having learned a trade and having saved every cent of his minimal prison pay. He hasn't seen his family for many years and he and his wife used to always fight about money so he very much wants to show her the money he's accumulated. When the time comes to visit her, he can't quite bring himself to do it and goes to one of his old haunts for a drink. Having had a bit too much to drink, he wakes up to find that he's been rolled by a pretty girl with whom he had struck ...
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Episode 36 - Final Arrangements
Release Date: 20 Jun. 1961A man fed up with his invalid wife's nagging, plans and prepays for a stylish coffin and funeral expenses.
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Episode 37 - Make My Death Bed
Release Date: 27 Jun. 1961When an older woman has a sexual affair with a handsome married singer, her jealous husband has murder in mind, and so does the wife of the singer.
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Episode 38 - Ambition
Release Date: 4 Jul. 1961A DA's ambition for higher office may interfere with the plans of a crime boss, who saved his life during the war, to go straight.