The Tender Poisoner

When Peter takes Lorna back to her house at the half way point of the film, he's invited into her home. Look closely at the front doors and then the stone wall next to them. As the camera pans forward you can clearly see the famous Brady stairs in the background. I never seen this house interior before in any film. I know Hitchcock was famous for the Leave it To Beaver set use and the surrounding back lot which was used extensively in most of his films and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I like to watch to see what houses and neighborhoods they use and pick out those I'm familiar with. Alfred Hitchcock was the best Director and broke ground for others to follow.

Peter Harding (Howard Duff) is Barney's best friend and the show begins with Barney telling Peter he's going to leave his wife for another woman. Peter's reaction is very unusual. While on the surface he seemed unfazed, he concocts a plan to help patch up Barney's marriage and get the girlfriend out of the way. No, he did NOT plan on killing the girlfriend but on taking her for himself. But the plan has a few snags. It turns out Barney's wife ALSO is tired of this marriage and she, too, has a boyfriend on the side...so Peter has to put a stop to this. As for what OTHER snag...well, you'll have to see the show to see what happens to Peter's plan.

This is a pretty good episode of the show and I liked the twist. It just goes to show you that the old expression 'no good deed goes unpunished' can indeed be true. The acting is good and script very good.

This is a convoluted love triangle episode. Dan Dailey (who has a beautiful wife) has fallen in love with a much younger one. He introduces her to his friend, Howard Duff, who tries to get him to knock it off. But good old Howard wants her for himself. What follows is Dailey's inability to ask his wife for a divorce and enlists Duff's help in killing her. Of course there are lots of complications, particular those that have to do with the poison. The downfall of this episode has to do with Dailey, lying in his hospital bed, seemingly lucid and with it, deciding to have Duff help him kill himself. It just doesn't wash.

Lackluster middle-aged businessman Barney, played by lackluster middle-aged actor Dan Daily, is tired of his oppressive wife, played by Jan Sterling, and has attracted an unlikely, pretty new girlfriend whom he insists on introducing to his best friend Peter, a handsome womanizer played by Howard Duff. Craving the prize for himself, Peter doesn't waste a beat moving in, manipulating and backstabbing his old friend in order to gain the girl. Meanwhile, Barney's wife is having an affair of her own with someone else, and everyone is pretty unlikable in his or her way. When the family dog of 15 years suddenly drops dead, nobody seems particularly upset. A tender poisoning, indeed. For no explicit reason it seems that Barney has decided to commit some of the titular poisonings, but in a clumsy and obvious way. Fortunately, his wife has gastro-intestinal problems and takes two heaping tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda every night, making things easy for any would-be poisoner. Lots of powders are spooned into lots of drinking glasses during this episode, and the surprise ending doesn't really make sense, even though you can see it coming.

This episode is more late 1940's film noir vs series television. Brilliantly pieced together. Norman Lloyd directs. Dan Dailey gives a stellar performance.