Malice Domestic

John Meredyth Lucas directed this OUTRAGEOUS tale, or should we say it has an outrageous ending. Lucas later turned to cop shows, like MANNIX, and was the stepson of legendary director Michael Curtiz. Like father, like son.

Ralph Meeker returns to the series as does Phyllis Thaxter, playing husband (Carl) and wife (Annette) who seem to have a happy life together --until he starts getting sick. The doc is called in, only to discover Carl is slowly being poisoned? How can that be?

If you're a true Hitchcock fan, you wouldn't want it any other way. Exceptional writing by Victor Wolfson, who penned many mysteries for the early tv show SUSPENSE. Perhaps a re-working of one of his stories. Beautifully done.

I agree with the last reviewer; there was (and still is) a CODE on tv where a murderer is NOT supposed to get away with a crime.... Hitch does conclude at the end the killer got their just reward! That's all we'll tell you.

Only debit: it's kind of strange to see two-fisted Meeker playing an artist? Meeker would have been more convincing as an athlete, like a high school or college coach. He's a tough guy, so it would take a lot of poison to knock him down.

A classic mystery for a late night. And once again, unless you've seen this, you will never guess the ending. From SEASON 2 remastered Universal dvd box set. 2006.

This is the prototypical Hitchcock episode. It involves the setting up of a series of red herrings designed to take us off the scent. We are treated to the deterioration of a man, seemingly through arsenic poisoning. It's about a dog and a triangle and some pretty tricky moves. Of course, we are treated to the "Alfred Hitchcock" ending. There are some pretty convincing performances which lead us to several wrong conclusions. When I saw this I hadn't watched a Hitchcock show for quite a while, so I was taken in. By the way, watch the way the man strokes the collar of the great Dane. That's what really distracted me. The other serious thing has to do with the wife's profession and her outside contacts. Well done.

This episode is the bread and butter of what the series is about. There are more creative episodes, but this is what people tuned in to see.

It's the tale of an well-to-do artist couple, and I have to say, they aren't convincing as artists. Ralph Meeker is the husband, his first appearance since the opener of Season 1, and he looks like he should be coaching college lacrosse. The wife is Phyllis Thaxter, a regular as well. She's working on a stunning green vase; alas, we can't see the color.

The husband becomes ill a couple of times and the suspicion turns to poisoning. The bulk of the episode plays off of this. Without getting into the details, it works.

John Meredyth Lucas directed two 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes prior to "Malice Domestic". The first was the very underrated "Jonathan", one of the fairly lowly rated episodes this reviewer actually liked. The other was the underwhelming "Crackpot", saved from total mediocrity from one truly great performance despite having one of the season's most preposterous stories. "Malice Domestic", his third and last episode for the series, sounded like it would be a very good episode.

And it was. To me, "Malice Domestic" to me is the best of Lucas' three 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes, even better than "Jonathan" and leagues better than "Crackpot". Is it a series high point? No. Is it a season high point? Again no. Is it worth watching. Absolutely yes and actually in my view as far as this up and down season goes "Malice Domestic", even when not being perfect itself, is one of the better episodes while not being a high point (although it actually almost was).

It is only let down a little by having a little too much padding, will agree that the art studio and orange juice scenes were irrelevant and felt like padding.

Otherwise, "Malice Domestic" is very good. It really is enlivened by the acting, with scorching performances from Ralph Meeker and Phyllis Thaxter that have a lot of intensity without veering into melodrama. Their characters were ones that would have been easy to overact in lesser hands, but the two have the right amount of intensity and vulnerability. The character interaction similarly is intense. Even with the padding, the story still manages to be very suspenseful and not too typical. It really kept me guessing throughout and for me the ending was a big surprise. Despite not being directed by Hitchcock, it was a story and premise worthy of him and actually wasn't too far off his level when he is not quite on top form but with plenty of what made him so great.

Lucas gives his most assured direction of his three outings here and does really well at keeping the tension afloat, to me despite "Crackpot" being disappointing he did show signs of having potential of being a more regular director for the series but wasn't given a chance (or at least enough of one). It's slickly made with some nice atmospheric shots. The audio is suitably ominous and will never stop raving about the haunting use of "Funeral March of a Marionette" for the series' main theme. Hitchcock's bookending is typically droll in writing and delivery.

"Malice Domestic" is thoughtfully written without being talky or too melodramatic as well.

Concluding, very good episode. 8/10.

"Malice Domestic" is an episode where the story idea seemed a lot better than the actual episode. One of the biggest problems is the whole dog angle...one that just seemed irrelevant.

Ralph Meeker and Phyllis Thaxter play Carl and Annette, two married folks who seem quite happy. However, Carl begins having awful stomach pains and they are so bad they contact a doctor. After some tests, the doctor is convinced that Carl is being poisoned with arsenic! But Carl won't believe it and laughs off the doctor's suggestion. What's next?

This is a decent enough story but it also is one that left me feeling that it was just okay. The dog was cute...not sure why it was included in the episode...regardless who the owner was.