Don't Come Back Alive

Frank Partridge and his wife plot to cheat their life insurance company by having her hide out for 7 years and declared legally dead, but an investigator believes Mr. Partridge has murdered her. An interesting tale about fraud and avarice, and even though there some plot holes ( which thriller doesn't have them?), it is still an engaging watch with some fine performances.

This story offers us nothing really exciting, but agreeable, never boring. The scheme proposed here is not new at all and even shown many times later, after this one. But for a newcomer it is a pretty good episode, story. The strongest point is the story telling and acting, very convincing performances. Insurance fraud is anyway an endless source of inspiration for all kinds of plots of this very kind. So, I advise you to watch this episode, it is in the pure ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS policy line. You will have many more of this kind, you have first to get used to it. However, it is not a torture.

Early story for the master of tales, Robert C. Dennis, who would go on to write 30 episodes for Hitch. He later wrote for scores of top Warner Brothers/ABC TV shows, moving on to cop shows in the 70s.

This one has bit of everything, from greed, to dark comedy to murder, just what Hitch ordered.

One of the screen greats, Sidney Blackmer plays Frank, a calculating businessman who strikes up a plan with his wife (Virginia Gregg) to simply "disappear" for about seven years? --so they can collect on a hefty life insurance policy and live happily ever after.

It all sounds far fetched, but when you come down to it, it could be carried out --IF, IF you have the patience --and don't have a steely eyed detective breathing down your neck. Robert Emhardt is super in this role, best in these low key parts and with a smirk. Just love this guy.

I agree with the last reviewer, and never thought about it until now. Frank and his wife are supposed to be a poor couple, yet he sets her up in an apartment to hide out (for years!) and regularly flies to see her during holidays. Where did he get the money?

Poetic license 101, but don't let that detour you.

The real fun (or war of nerves) is between Frank and detective Kettle (Emhardt). Cheers to Sidney Blackmer, who appeared in over 100 classic films, known for playing Teddy Roosevelt. Prior to this episode he guest starred in THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY.

A gem. No other way to spell it. SEASON 1 EPISODE 4 remastered Universal dvd box set. 2005. 16 hrs total length.

Nothing remarkable here, just patented Hitchcock programming. Blackmer and Gregg are a penniless middle-aged couple who can't come up with rent money. They're obviously respectable and deeply attached to one another. But where to get the needed money. At this point Hitchcock takes over. They concoct an insurance scam, where she will disappear for seven years after which she will be declared legally dead, and then they can collect a fat insurance settlement. Gregg balks because she fears seven years of independence after decades as a dowdy housewife. But then they are desperate. What mastermind Blackmer hasn't counted on, however, is dogged insurance investigator Emhardt or his mousy wife.

The contest of wills between the wily Emhardt, who suspects murder, and the resolute Blackmer makes an interesting contrast. The series wisely used Emhardt in key roles over the years, -even today; that combination of baby-faced menace in a middle-aged man remains truly distinctive. Gregg's role is the demanding one since she has to carry the episode's irony, but then she was one of the great TV actresses of the day. The Hitchcock stamp emerges in showing how larceny lurks beneath even the most ordinary looking people, and, of course, in the twist ending which strikes me, nonetheless, as not very plausible. Couldn't a more plausible motivation for gardening have been concocted.

Of course, subjecting the entire screenplay to logical analysis turns up gaps that admittedly could have been improved upon even in a 30-minute format. But that misses the point, which is the insistent Hitchcockian one- that crime turns up in the unlikeliest places. Add to that the subversive note about the hidden potential of even the most dependent housewife, and you have an interesting allegory (not an essay, which would require filling in the gaps) on middle-class respectability, -a frequent Hitchcock target, especially appropriate to the conformist 1950's. No, this is not unblemished Hitchcock, but neither is it a wash-out.

Frank Partridge (Sidney Blackmer) and his wife plot to cheat their life insurance company by having her hide out for seven years and declared legally dead, but an investigator believes Mr. Partridge has murdered her.

If the downfalls of this episode could be summed up briefly, I think they tried to fit too much into 25 minutes. As far-fetched as the plot may be, it would make a decent movie, but you have to develop it a bit more. It is not as simple as just moving away... I suspect unless the wife got a whole new identity, they would be able to find her sooner or later...

But, as far as a short story goes, it is alright. If we suspend our disbelief for a bit, it has a nice arc, and there is always the "comeuppance" that makes this show, "Twilight Zone" or even "Tales From the Crypt" so appealing.