Letter of Credit

A man claiming to be a writer arrives at a bank and meets with the president. He tells him that he's writing a story and investigating the case of Arnold Mathias...and that Mathias had been killed while trying to escape from prison. The president then recounts the story of Mathias and how he was accused of stealing $200,000 from the bank...though none of the money was ever recovered and Mathias proclaimed his innocence...and the case against him seemed unclear.

This is a rather uneven episode. It is a bit talky but it also suffers from a twist that is somewhat obvious early in the episode. Still, it is interesting, though a bit telegraphed.

By the way, the idea of stealing $200,000 also occurred in a different season five episode, "Not the Running Type"....though the writers of the two episodes were different.

Hard to sit through this one, mainly because it's extremely talky & static. I didn't try to follow the dialogue too closely as it's labyrinthine & convoluted, making it difficult to follow, at least for me. Essentially an inside-job bank robbery scenario, related in a 2-person, flashback procedural way, making it quite tedious to stay focused. I know TV viewers had much longer attention spans back in that now vanished era but I found it painful & rather boring in this case. Interesting to me mainly just to see actor Bob Sweeney, whose increasing nervousness is fun to watch. Although an obscure actor, both then & now, he usually played high-strung, fidgety types, such as here, or charming, smooth-talking con-men, mostly in a lightly comical style. Despite Sweeney's amusing, watchable presence, this is one Hitchcock TV episode that easily can be skipped.

It is probably the less interesting episode of the whole series. Yes, the supposed twist ending is acually not one at all. We just discover something which we may not expect, I agree, but that remains flat to me. I won't spoil the story, but just wait for the next episode.

The kind of story Hitch loved, all about a stranger from nowhere upsetting the proverbial apple cart. Not original, but it's worth a look and for an interesting cast.

Robert Bray (known for LASSIE) plays Taylor, a writer, or so he claims, researching a $200,000 dollar bank robbery in which the suspected bank teller (Richard Nicholas) was sent to prison and died in an escape. Taylor interviews the bank manager, Spengler (played by Bob Sweeney) and the wheels begin to fall off. Sweeney, who became a famous tv director (ANDY GRIFFITH, HOGANS HEROES etc) makes the most of his role, a good actor in his own right.

The Hitch twist is where's the mazuma?

A re-working of a previous episode called "Not the Running Type," also about a $200,000 dollar robbery, but with a different outcome. Helen Nielsen wrote this more on the serious side, also a writer for PERRY MASON, and has the feel of a story from that show.

Directed by Paul Henreid, good with these old school cat and mouse games. SEASON 5 EPISODE 36 remastered Universal dvd box set. 16 hrs total.

I was reasonable entertained by this episode. The sweating bank president sort of gave things away. The story begins with a big man in a suit, giving money to a stationmaster to let him know if a strange man shows up on the train. We then cut to the little town and to a bank. What transpires is a cat and mouse game being played. A former bank teller has died trying to escape. It is thought that he was jailed because of running off with 200,000 dollars. But the thief is tripped up when the back story is explained. This episode needed some tighter plotting with a degree of suspense and danger. It's just a bit lukewarm.