Help Wanted

This is a bit remindful of Conan-Doyle's "The Red-Headed League." It involves a man who is a bit desperate for employment who takes a job where he goes to work all by himself and carries out his orders. He is confused but his wife is ill and he is always paid right on schedule. He continues to do what is asked of him until one day a man comes to him and asks him to commit a murder. At first he is absolutely opposed to it, but when a large cash settlement is involved it gets him to thinking. He is a little milquetoast and a rule follower, but he has been given a chance to prosper. As it turns out, there are a series of twist from this point on and it has a pretty satisfying ending. This involves one of those moral decisions that many are forced to make at times. It's a good episode that starts slowly and then picks up steam.

Nothing absolutely great here but quite entertaining for the audiences fond of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS series. Good crime scheme with blackmail element and a story already told before and also after. Rather light hearted, but not a comedy either, the characters and plot will "talk" to audiences, I am sure. Many folks will more or less recognize themselves in those common American characters. Not exciting but not boring either. Not my favorite, not a milestone in the series. Not a highlight. But in a one hundred and forty episodes anthology show, it is impossible to have one hundred and forty masterpieces.

Even Alfred Hitchcock noted that this story has a delectable sting. A rather nifty twisted one.

Mr Crabtree (John Qualen) was fired from his previous job for being too old. Now his wife is ill and she needs surgery.

So a new job offer is a lifeline for Crabtree. He will be working on his own in an office writing reports. It is all very confidential and his employer remains mysterious.

Crabtree does not think much about the reports but it is a lucrative job and will help with the medical bills.

Then one day the employer shows up at the office. The mysterious Mr X (Lorne Greene) has a deadly proposition for Mr Crabtree, a well paid one.

The story is reminiscent of a Sherlock Holmes one and then it goes its own way.

Well, it's all pretty mysterious. Middle-age unemployed Crabtree (note the name) with a sick wife suddenly gets a lucrative job. All he has to do is sit in a tiny office, copy corporation names, and mail the list each week to a box office. So who cares that his employer remains anonymous as does the purpose of the list. Is he being set up, but if so, for what.

Qualen's perfect as Crabtree, just the right inoffensive look and manner. Greene too shines, with his commanding look and demeanor, even without a Bonanza hairpiece. Good also to see regulars like Baer and Atterbury pick up a payday, even for brief walk-on's. In fact, had I looked closer at the cast list I might have figured out the upshot. Incidentally, note how Director Neilson ups suspense by withholding a facial view of Mr. X. The storyline is pretty spare, but the 30-minutes remains a solid Hitch entry, with Crabtree's inspired final line.

"Help Wanted" is the first episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' to be directed by James Neilson, who later went on to direct eleven more episodes of the series of varying success. It is also John Qualen's second lead actor appearance on the series, his first being the very good "A Bullet for Baldwin", which he was great in. The premise was not overly exciting, but have seen many things with things that don't sound exciting but the execution turns out to be solid.

As far as Season 1 goes, "Help Wanted" is not one of the best (i.e. "Breakdown", "And So Died Riabouchinska") or one of the worst (ie. "Triggers for Leash", "Shopping for Death"). It is somewhere around solid middle, an episode that does a lot right, more so than wrong, but at the same time there's something that other episodes of the season and show had that is lacking here. Solid and enjoyable, if slightly on the bland side would be my way of summing "Help Wanted" up.

Shall begin with what could have been done better. The story is very slight and is rather slow going to begin with. It could have done with more suspense perhaps too.

The ending to me came over as easily foreseeable, silly and anti-climactic.

On the other hand, much is great. First and foremost, the pitch perfect performance of Qualen who has the right amount of intense, tortured demeanour. Lorne Greene stands out in support, very commanding. Neilson directs with assurance if not always with distinction. Hitchcock's scenes are typically intriguing and dry humoured.

Production values have nice style and atmosphere. The main theme is one that stays in the mind for a while, so in keeping with the style of the series and one that will be easy to recognise even to those that are not usually classical music listeners (due to hearing popping up in adverts every now and then). The script is tight enough and provokes thought, while the story shines best in the complex character writing for the lead character. The mystery also intrigues enough.

In conclusion, pretty good if not great. 7/10.