Kill with Kindness

Looks like this entry was reaching for a façade of black humor. The Oldhams, brother and sister, are aging and barely getting by. Unless they figure something out, their old age looks bleak. What they do have is a life insurance policy on brother Fitzhugh (Cronyn). Then along comes homeless old guy Gyorgy (Gleason). Nobody would miss him were he to disappear, so putting on their best face, they invite him in.

The entry depends more on character interest than suspense. Bird-watcher and butterfly-fancier Fitzhugh is too ditzy and bumbling to generate menace. That's left to sister Katherine (Mathews) who squashes butterflies rather than petting them. Trouble is she relies on her bumbling brother to do the dirty work. So we wonder just how much danger old Gyorgy is really in.

Cronyn specialized in eccentric parts and is clearly enjoying this ripe slice of ditz. Mathews was an early Hitch favorite, especially as Lizzie Borden's sinister sister, The Older Sister (1956). At the same time, Gleason makes a convincing penniless old man. The upshot however is fairly mild, while the episode as a whole remains largely a quirky Hume Cronyn showcase.

Exquisite story without any death. It is sweet, not at all brutal nor downbeat or depressing, just the perfect entertainment for the whole family. The climax is excellent. The story telling is however a bit too "gentle", you may wonder where this story leads you to. Sometimes, this feeling is agreeable, not to know exactly where you go, but sometimes you may feel confused. Just a bit concerning here. I will put it in the medium batch, just in between. There has been better, and there has been worse. Arson scheme is not that used so far in the series. And, again, I repeat that this story ends in a very amusing way, very moral. It's an unusual ending actually.

Katherine (Carmen Mathews) and Fitz (Hume Cronyn) are a brother and sister who live together. Katherine is the boss and Fitz is in his own little world of birds and butterfly collecting most of the time. The pair have a secret plan....to burn down their house and make it look as if Fitz was killed in the blaze...and then collect the insurance money.

To make the plan work, they need a body to substitute for Fitz...and they see a hobo (James Gleason) in the park. Katherine invites him in for a warm meal and gives him some clothing...so that his body, or what is left of it, looks like Fitz after the fire. But like in all the episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", you know things won't go exactly as they intended.

Overall, this is a mixed bag. I love the acting and the characters...but the story and the twist are only okay....not bad...just okay.

The best on this episode quite sure is the intro of master Hitchcock tie up in a stake about to be burned igniting a matchstick to light a cigarette dropped the flaming matchstick to start a fire the smoke rising at Hitchcock's face pretending blame a possible technical obfuscation on the camera.

The story is pointless where the elder brother Fitzhugh (Hume Cronyn) and sister Katherine (Carmen Mathews) living together in an old house, they'd bought an insurance police which if one of them comes to die, whom stays alive will got the money, however the overbearing Katherine overpowers a faltering Fitzhugh, manages a bold plan to kill someone else in place of Fitzhugh, the cold Katherine finds a perfect victim the wanderer Mr. Jorgy (Jackie Gleason) in a nearby park, she invites him to got a supper aiming for cheating the old Jorgy that starts distrust over such goodness.

Meanwhile Katherine put a sleeping bill a couple of milk of Jorgy to taking him to upstairs at Fitzhugh's room to let him sleeping in the bed and sets fire in a house whilst Fitzhugh flees in order to aftermaths the fire the police finds out the incinerated body of the jinxed Jorgy, not so fast some unexpected facts will spoil the whole thing.

Thanks for reading.

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First Watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD /Rating: 7.

I saw Hume Cronyn on stage as Richard III in 1965. He was a masterful actor. He could play anything. In this he is an eccentric butterfly collector who lives with his sister. They are both nuts. They have decided to pull a con to collect fire insurance. He is so possessive of his hobby that he gets in the way. They lure a homeless man with the idea of substituting him for the Cronyn character. Because of the brother's instability we can sense things aren't going to go smoothly. Unfortunately, a ring the homeless man is wearing won't come off, plan B is implemented. This, of course, is going to throw the whole thing off. This episode is so far fetched but the acting is great. Where it fails is in the basic script. The plot just doesn't satisfy.