Death Sentence

With Paul Henreid directing, the bad apples were more rotten to the core, just what Hitch loved. Just what we loved... Steve Brodie, who portrayed some sly foxes in his day, plays Al, released from prison, and wanting to "rekindle" old times with his former partner, now a successful businessman.

James Best is a good choice, playing Norman, one of those Hitch characters who looks pleasant enough, however has skeletons in his closet too. Fate seemed to be kinder to Norman (Best), so Al wants a few favors -- for lost time in the jug. The irony here is Al should have been the one running the business, because he seemed to be quite the industrious fellow. Its amazing as you watch this series how all the smart guys were ex jail birds or are sitting behind bars!

Then there's the matter (always is) about Norman's wife, played by Katharine Bard. Al has taking a liking to her, and the walls further begin to crumble around poor Norman.

Hitch soap opera? Yes. Hitch let's do something about it? That too. Without giving too much away, instead of guns or knives, a change of pace with a bomb. Aren't we having fun. The finale, guaranteed, will take you by surprise.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 30 remastered Universal dvd box set. 5 red (as in red herring?) dvds. 16 hrs 59 minutes running time. All seven seasons are now on dvd in a single box. Released 2022.

"Death Sentence" is a rather ordinary episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" because although it has a nice story, it lacks irony and the usual great twist.

When the story begins, Norman is a successful business man who seems to have a pretty good life. However, an unexpected old friend arrives fresh from prison and he plans on putting the bite on Norman. You soon learn that the two men were partners in crime long ago and the friend was caught and sent to prison...and now that he's been paroled, he informs Norman that he wants to be taken care of OR ELSE he'll tell authorities what really happened long ago...sending Norman to prison. So he has little choice but to give in to this blackmail and during this time, Norman ignores his loving wife and it puts a stain on the marriage.

While an interesting story idea, the writer didn't seem to know what to do with it and the ending was just okay and nothing more.

When a writer is bogged down with a drama that just won't go, he's far better off trying it out as a comedy. The unworkable premises piled up to ridiculous heights in "Death Sentence" make a pretty good example. Hangdog protagonist James Best is haunted by an unhappy childhood, the legacy of a domineering father-in-law, a sputtering business, a disagreeable personality, and the little matter of a murder charge lurking in his criminal background. To top it off Best is supposed to be married to Katherine Bard, an actress 10 years his senior, who looked every day of it. That alone would be worse than any death sentence.

I guess when one is driven by despair, one can go to the most ridiculous extremes. This is a story about love, even though it is not love in a demonstrative way, but the kind of love people have who have gotten used to each other. Enter the other element, the young, romantic manipulator. We are led to believe that our hero has finally had enough, and while what he is doing is beyond the pale, he is at least doing something. Of course, Hitchcock's writers know that the story is just too easy. Revenge is what this is all about, so we need a more satisfactory ending. Performances are quite dramatic. I just couldn't get beyond the lack of choices that the protagonist investigates. Oh well! It's a half hour and it certainly is interesting.

Paul Henreid was the second most prolific director for 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', the most being Robert Stevens. None of the regular directors for the series were consistent, with pretty much all of them having a mix of very good and more and not particularly good episodes. As well as the second most prolific director, Henreid was also one of the more variable in terms of episode quality. As far as his previous episodes go, there were winners like "Last Request" and "A Little Sleep" but also disappointments like "Silent Witness" and "Enough Rope for Two".

"Death Sentence" unfortunately is closer to being one of the disappointments, though Henreid did do worse, including the aforementioned two. It is not an awful episode by all means, although as said Henreid's 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' output was very hit and miss even his weakest entries were better than most of the other prolific directors at their worst (Stevens and Herschel Daugherty for examples). Certainly had no issues with the acting, which is the main compensation, the episode just felt rather ordinary and bland.

There are good things about "Death Sentence". Both leads are very good, particularly James Best in a performance that really unnerves. Katharine Bard is alluring. Hitchcock's bookending has some nice amusing drollness.

It looks quite good visually, with some nice moody photography. The theme music for the series is delightfully macabre as expected. It starts off quite well.

Unfortunately, "Death Sentence" was an example of a good idea that felt under-cooked in the execution. The story is lacking in suspense in a story that was crying out for it and had a running out of ideas feel later on. Not just in the saggy pacing but also when the story seemed to get thinner rather than more eventful, which made the episode feel very bland and routine. There are far more implausible episodes in the series, including some of Henreid's other episodes (i.e. "Silent Witness"), but the character motivations and decisions felt really vague and not delved into enough so there was some confusion here and there too.

Furthermore, there is a sudden decision at the end that is far too sudden and out of nowhere, and didn't make sense to me considering everything that comes beforehand. It also makes the character in question come over as stupid. Henreid's direction generally is uninspired and the episode would have benefitted from a tighter pace, more surprises and dialogue that had more edge and less over heated melodrama.

Overall, watchable but also wasn't that crazy about it. 5/10.